What is this Magic?
by AisCrimson
Summary: Hogwarts AU - Magical Soulmate Tattoos. Clarke and Raven are in their 5th year in Hogwarts and are tinkering around with new magic when they create magical moving tattoos. Little do they know that these tattoos can travel, leaving the body of their owner at will to appear on the skin of their soulmate.
1. Chapter 1

**What is this Magic?**

Clarke stuffed all the scraps of parchment she could get her hands on into her backpack and stormed across the empty common room. She rushed through the portrait hole and swung the portrait of the Fat Lady shut behind her.

"Easy there, Griffin! These hinges aren't what they used to be," The Fat Lady wailed after her.

"Sorry!" She called back over her shoulder as she got to the sixth floor staircase.

The lack of students on the stairwell was worrying. It meant everyone was already in class and that Clarke was even later than she thought. She rounded the corner of the second floor staircase, irritated that she still had so far to go when a flash of black hair appeared in her vision and she was unceremoniously dragged onto the second floor corridor.

"What the hell?!" Clarke yelled as she shrugged off the hands that had grabbed her by the hood of her cloak.

"Clarke! I've got it! I think it's time we tried it out!"

"Raven, can it wait?!" Clarke rubbed the base of her neck and darted her eyes around the corridor. "I'm already late for Herbology as it is and this isn't exactly the place to be talking about this."

"Ugh fine, you have a free period in two hours though, right? Meet me in the Room of Requirement, oh and if you could manage to sneak some Mandrakes out of Greenhouse Three that would be great!"

"Raven, I'm not comfortable stealing school property," Clarke sighed.

"We need them, Clarke! Please just try?" Raven begged. "If you don't get them then we're stuck with using ourselves as guinea pigs and I'm not too keen on that idea are you?"

"I'll do my best, ok? Now I really have to go but are you sure we're ready?"

"Hell yeah we are, nothing's gonna go wrong, trust me."

Clarke rolled her eyes at Raven's confidence and continued her dash down the stairs.

…

Clarke slipped into the back of Greenhouse 3 as quietly as possible and tiptoed over to her station to join Octavia who just rolls her eyes and pushes her book over slightly so that Clarke can see what page they're on. She pulled out her own book and a few scraps of parchment and opened the chapter on Venomous Tentacula.

"Don't think I didn't notice your late entry Miss Griffin, that'll be 5 points from Gryffindor," Professor Pike called out without looking away from the diagram he was drawing on the blackboard.

Octavia and a few other Gryffindor faces turn to Clarke who just shrugs back in chagrin. Pike catches her eyes and raises a brow before beginning to demonstrate the correct way to prune a Venomous Tentacula.

Clarke took down minimal notes, leaving that to Octavia, opting instead to draw an exact replica of the Venomous Tentacula with accurate annotations. They would then swap over later while working on homework in the common room.

"Alright, now I'm going to give out a Venomous Tentacula to each pair. Remember, I have not nullified their venom, you're 5th years, you should be able to handle them without getting bitten, but if you do Healer Griffin will be waiting for you in the Hospital Wing." Pike didn't seem confident in them as a class to get out unscathed. It was likely that he had already warned Abby to have plenty of Tentacula antidote at the ready.

Octavia carefully levitated their plant towards them, keeping well out of reach of their snapping vines. She had picked a particularly lack lustre specimen so that she and Clarke could chat idly without risk of the many venomous teeth making lunch of their fingers.

"So what's the excuse today, Griffin?" Octavia asked positioning the plant at the centre of the desk.

"No excuse, just late." Clarke shrugged.

"With what, though? I know for a fact you're not flying in your spare time, I'm on the pitch all the time and I only see you at practise." Octavia mused over the various possibilities. "It can't be with course work because we both know your grades are steadily dropping, and now you keep coming late to class? What is going on with you?"

"My grades haven't dropped that much," Clarke quipped defensively, clipping off the head of a dead vine.

"Enough for your Mom to have noticed and to ask me about it the other day."

Clarke sighed heavily and put down the clippers.

"Now she's keeping tabs on me? It's bad enough having her here at school but she could at least try and not stick her nose into all my business."

"She's just worried, I am too for that matter."

"Don't worry about it, O. If she asks again just tell her I'm fine."

"Look, if you're not gonna give me anything then naturally I'm going to jump to conclusions," Octavia teased in a sing song voice as she deftly fed multiple vines at once, floating the dead crickets near them so they could reach out and snap them up. "I noticed you've been hanging around with that Ravenclaw girl a lot lately…anything going on there? A secret relationship perhaps? You know I wouldn't judge, she's hot as hell."

"I am not in a secret relationship with Raven," Clarke grumbles.

"But you are spending time with her."

"Yes, we have History of Magic together, we got talking after class one day and found out we have a lot in common."

"A lot in common not meaning having a shared interest in putting your tongues down each others' throats?" Octavia said with a wink.

"Float me, Octavia! No! But if you're so interested I could tell her that you want to stick your tongue down her throat!"

A few heads turned to look at her in surprise after her unexpected outburst. Clarke and Octavia made quick work of looking incredibly focused and not at all distracted.

"Maybe…" Octavia said after people had turned back to their work.

"Maybe what?" Clarke asked in confusion, having forgotten their topic of conversation after embarrassing herself.

"Maybe you could tell her that, eventually, and maybe not in those exact words and you could probably just start with an introduction." Octavia was focused in on a certain vine that was proving difficult to feed as it seemed more interested in her fingers than dead crickets which gave her the perfect excuse not to look Clarke in the eye.

It slowly dawned on Clarke what Octavia was suggesting, her hand stilling in mid-air, cricket poised between her thumb and forefinger. Two Venomous Tentacula seized their opportunity and plunged their spiny fangs into Clarke's dragon-hide gloves. She groaned in frustration as the rest of the vine heads snaked their way through the air to try and latch onto her hand as well.

"A little help here, O?"

"Immobulus!" Octavia uttered quickly, with a sharp flick of her wand.

With the Venomous Tentacula frozen the two set about prying the fangs out of Clarke's glove, without causing any damage to the rare plant. Once freed, Clarke removed her glove to examine her hand for any bite marks and then checked her glove for any holes. When Clarke was happy that she hadn't been bitten she set the glove aside and looked back at Octavia whose brows were raised in a coy expression.

"So you're saying that you weren't jealous that I was hanging out with someone other than you, you were jealous about who I was hanging out with?"

"Not jealous, I just thought you were interested in her all of a sudden, romantically speaking that is, and I've kinda been crushing on her from afar ever since she surprised Hagrid by fixing his flying motorcycle last year," Octavia explained wistfully.

"I forgot she did that," Clarke replied, thinking back to how happy Hagrid had been, wrapping Raven up in a bear hug every time he saw her. "That put her on the map, everyone in the school knows who she is now."

"Yeah, but I can tell that that's not why she did it, you know? She did it because it would make him happy, not for any other reason." Octavia bit back a smile, poking at the frozen vine heads before her.

"You could have told me, O."

"That's rich, you still won't tell me what's going on with you!"

"All in good time, O."

"Ugh, I hate mysterious Clarke." Octavia bumped her shoulder into Clarke's playfully, knowing there was no point pushing the issue further.

"You hate mysterious everything, I swear had you been in Hogwarts when the Chamber of Secrets was still hidden, you would have been the one to find it," Clarke said seriously.

"Too right!" Octavia high fives Clarke happily. "Just promise you'll tell me what's going on eventually and that you'll introduce me to Raven soon?"

"I promise."

The bell went, marking the end of class. They tidied their station and the class began to trickle out of the room. Clarke grimaced when she saw that Pike was standing by the door waiting for the class to leave so that he could lock up the Greenhouse. She wasn't going to get her chance to steal the Mandrakes if she didn't do something soon. These days Alohamora wasn't enough to unlock doors in the castle.

Clarke turned to Octavia hurriedly to whisper in her ear. "If you do me a favour right now, no questions asked, I'll tell you what's going on and introduce you to Raven before the end of the week."

"Make it within the next two days and we have a deal."

"Ugh fine, deal!" Clarke muttered.

"What do you need?" Octavia asked in a hushed tone.

"I need you to distract Pike while I steal some Mandrakes." Octavia's eyes widened in surprise and her mouth gaped open. "I said no questions," Clarke reminded her.

Octavia snaps her mouth shut and exhales sharply out her nose.

"The things I do for you Griffin," Octavia grumbled. She marched over to the shelves with their still frozen Venomous Tentacula and put it back on the third shelf. "The things I'll do to get a girl," she then muttered to herself before holding her hand out to the other Venomous Tentacula to chow down on.

"Owwww! Professor Pike!" Clarke watched in horror as Octavia collapsed down on the ground, clutching her hand and Pike ran over to her from his position by the door. Clarke ran to the opposite end of the Greenhouse and opened her backpack, an extendable charm already in place so that she could carry around all her school books. She quickly but gently took three Mandrake pots and lowered them into her bag.

"Clarke, what are you doing up there?" Pike shouted from beside Octavia.

"I thought you might have some antidote in your desk!" Clarke responded, thinking quickly.

"I told you before, all the antidote is in the Hospital Wing. I'm going to escort Miss Blake there right now, you get to your next class immediately," he ordered.

"Yes sir." Clarke hurried out of the room

…

Clarke felt dreadful as she made her way to the North Tower for her Divination class. How was she to know that Octavia's idea of a distraction was throwing herself to a deadly magical plant? She always did have a flair for the dramatics but this was taking things a bit far, even for Octavia. Bellamy was going to have a fit when he found out but at least he would think it was a genuine accident. She would visit Octavia in the Hospital Wing as soon as possible, probably after she met up with Raven.

Clarke reached the North Tower only a couple of minutes late and climbed the ladder to ascend through the circular trap door into the Divination classroom. The usual incense assailed her as she entered, immediately making her a tad drowsy. Being late, there weren't many seats left and she glanced around to see if there was a seat beside a friendly face. Divination wasn't a popular class with Gryffindors, Clarke actually being the only one in her year to take it at O.W.L level.

A Ravenclaw girl with long, curly brown hair sat in the best spot in the room, in the comfiest armchair by the window, the seat beside her vacant but the atmosphere around her not exactly welcoming. Clarke didn't exactly have a chance to be picky as Professor Titus entered from the back. She scurried over to the smaller armchair across from the girl and sat down, carefully placing her backpack down under the table. The last thing she would need would be for the Mandrakes to tip over in her bag and start wailing, causing everyone to pass out.

Clarke watched as Titus took his time setting himself up at his desk and the class continued to chatter. She turned to look at the girl across from her who was gazing out the window, hair hanging down over most of her face. It didn't seem that she had even noticed Clarke sit down. That or she was intentionally ignoring her. Clarke turned in her seat to see what could be capturing the girl's attention but there was nothing but a cloudy sky.

Clarke cleared her throat and scuffed her chair closer to the table between them, hopefully alerting the girl to her presence. Still nothing. Clarke scoffed and leaned back in her chair folding her arms.

"You know it's rude to ignore people?" Clarke stated, not sure the girl would even acknowledge her when she spoke.

The girl across from her slowly sat up straight and turned to look at Clarke who felt two critical emerald eyes appraise her. The girl leaned forward resting her elbows on her crossed legs.

"Last time I checked clearing your throat isn't exactly the best way to introduce yourself to people." The girl smirked at her slightly, and quirked her brow before pushing her mane of curls back away from her face.

Clarke couldn't tell if it was another wave of incense that had hit her or the scent of the girl's shampoo. Clarke's mouth gaped open and she narrowed her eyes at this Ravenclaw girl that was currently baffling her. Clarke shook her head, closed her mouth and pointedly cleared her throat again before holding her hand out to the girl.

"Clarke Griffin." She introduced herself with a smirk and a tilt of her head, silently asking the girl if she was going to shake her hand or not.

"I know who you are, you're Healer Griffin's daughter." The girl didn't give away whether this meant she already had an impression of Clarke or not, her voice staying even and smooth throughout. She steadily shook Clarke's hand anyway before sitting back in her chair.

Clarke couldn't help but notice how soft the girl's hand was, letting it slide that she had brought up her mother. Clarke couldn't help it that her mother worked at Hogwarts and that everyone knew her because of it.

"Ok, so you know who I am, now do I get to know who you are?"

The girl looked at Clarke searchingly, possibly wondering why she cared. Why now, almost at the middle of the school year, did this girl suddenly decide to sit down beside her in class? The seat beside her had been free every class since the start of the semester, not a soul interested in taking it. She couldn't seem to find her answer in Clarke's eyes that grew more confused with every second that passed that she didn't offer her name.

"Maybe you can divine it before the end of class," she suggested with a sly smile.

Clarke looked at her in disbelief, both of them knowing full well that that was practically impossible. She didn't have a chance to answer before the girl had turned her attention to Titus who had begun the class.

They had to read each others' tea leaves, something Clarke hadn't done since Divination in Third Year but was something they were supposed to practise regularly in order to actually be any good at it. The upside to this activity was that they actually got to drink some tea and relax before they started trying to predict each others future.

Clarke watched as the girl poured them both some tea and brought the cup up to her full lips, blowing gently over the hot liquid.

"What are the chances my tea leaves spell out your name at the bottom of my cup?" Clarke asked playfully.

"Slim to none," the girl said with a laugh. "But if I'm a part of your future then I suppose there's always a chance it could happen."

Clarke mused over the idea of spending more time with the girl and thought she would actually thoroughly enjoy that.

"So, do you know Raven?" Clarke asked, trying to engage her in easy conversation.

"Everyone knows Raven," the girl replied evenly.

"Right," Clarke acknowledged. "What I meant was, Raven is a friend of mine and I was wondering if you two are friends as well? Do you have any classes together?"

"We've spoken briefly," she answered. "And Raven and I have numerous classes together, both being Ravenclaws. History of Magic, Transfiguration, Potions, a few others."

"Wait, I have History of Magic with Raven."

"Which means that you have it with me also, Clarke." She fixed Clarke with a look as she sipped her tea and Clarke withered with a little bit of guilt. That was two classes that Clarke had never noticed this girl in before, which now seemed hard to believe, how could she ever have missed her?

"I'm sorry, I kind of space out during class," Clarke admitted.

"I noticed."

Clarke looked up to see the girl's cheeks redden at her admission and fidget with her hair nervously. Clarke was glad to see that she could actually be phased by certain things.

"What have you noticed?" Clarke pushed for answers.

"I've noticed that we're both finished our tea," she said recovering her composure. Clarke looked at her cup to see that she was right.

"It takes me a while to make any sense of these, how about you read mine first?" Clarke asked, trying to bide herself some time.

"Very well," she replied taking Clarke's cup in exchange for her own. "Well, it doesn't spell out my name, that's one thing for sure."

"Dang." Clarke couldn't help but laugh. "And here I was hoping this would be easy. So, what do you see?"

"It actually looks like trees, a forest maybe." She started. "That means you could be lost in your future, directionless maybe, possibly just confused or faced with a choice. But this clump of leaves here looks like a sunrise behind the trees which suggests that you'll make the right choice, or get through your troubles and make it out the other side."

"These things are always so vague," Clarke huffed. "You're pretty good at it though."

"Like I said, it's hardly going to spell anything out for us Clarke. I suppose you should read mine now?"

Clarke had been so mesmerised listening to the girl read her leaves that she hadn't had a chance to prepare what she was going to say back to her. She jerked back and looked down at the cup still sitting in her palms. Clarke gasped and dropped the cup, rolling off the table and shattering on the ground. The girl jumped out of her chair, startled and began picking up the pieces from the ground.

"What did you see? And I swear if you say the Grim, I will hit you."

Clarke looked at the girl blankly, mind racing, deciding what she should say. She didn't want to tell her what she had seen but saying something generic wouldn't explain her intense reaction. The only things Clarke could think of to say were things that would make the girl feel terrible, like Dementors or Thestrals which weren't too far from removed from the Grim in representing death and loneliness.

"Ughh…I saw…it was…" Clarke's mind couldn't seem to stray far from the Grim now that she had said it. "It was a raccoon!" Clarke cringed. "But it looked like the Grim and I got a fright, that's all, I'm so sorry for dropping it."

"A raccoon?" The girl asked unconvinced. Clarke nodded her head overeagerly. "Alright, I guess? Suppose that means someone's going to go through my rubbish someday soon."

Clarke was relieved that the girl didn't seem too annoyed that she was clearly lying to her. But Clarke couldn't tell her what she had seen. She couldn't tell her that what she had seen was most definitely a Griffin, no mistake about it. A Griffin, mid-flight, wings spread. Clarke had never seen anything so vividly in tea leaves, to be honest they had always just seemed to be a lot of black mush. Clarke also knew that Griffins themselves could represent a number of things but she felt in that moment when she saw it that there was no doubt of what it meant: that she, a Griffin by name, was going to be a significant part of this girl's future and if she was being honest, the thought had scared her.

The girl allowed Clarke to get lost in her head until the end of class. Clarke was clearly shaken which concerned the girl a little, considering it had been her leaves she had been looking at but she couldn't find it in herself to care more about herself than for Clarke. She laid her hand down on top of Clarke's soothingly.

"Clarke, the class is over, we have to go."

Clarke's electric blue eyes snapped to hers, seemingly returning from some great distance.

"Shit!" Clarke yelled all of a sudden. "I have to be somewhere!"

Clarke gathered up her things and rushed over to the trapdoor.

"Wait, don't you want to know my name?" The girl asked, now eager to let Clarke know it for some reason.

Clarke's head popped back up through the trapdoor. "Next time." And with a brilliant smile that Clarke couldn't help but send, she was gone.

The Ravenclaw girl sat back in her armchair pondering what 'next time' meant. Next Divination class? Next time they had any class together? Next time they saw each other? It didn't really matter and yet the girl found herself already getting excited about it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Clarke walked passed the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy for the third time and waited for the door to appear in the wall. Checking the corridor was clear one last time, she entered.

The set up to the room was different from the last few times they had used it. Before, it had been more like a potions laboratory, stocked with plenty of safety equipment for them to use. This time though, it had taken on a classic tattoo parlour look, with professional benches, inking machines, trays of needles and pots of colours, despite the fact they wouldn't need them. Clarke knew it was all about creating an atmosphere and authentic tattooing experience.

Clarke saw Raven examining the many different needles used for muggle tattooing. Raven, being a muggle-born had a deeper understanding of muggle engineering and basic tools. Technically she could probably already teach the Muggle Studies class at Hogwarts.

But Raven's true interest was in making muggle engineering and magic compatible. She had already convinced most students in the school to get mobile phones to communicate with when on holidays and had promised everyone that by the time she was in 6th year they would all have service in the castle and something called 'wifi.'

That project was on the back burner for now though as Raven had fully committed to the project she had undertaken with Clarke.

Clarke left Raven to her examination and wandered over to what was the much more intriguing side of the room in her opinion. It seemed that the room was going to provide Clarke with no lack of inspiration for her tattoos as books and posters of all kinds of art were hung and stacked around the room.

Clarke picked up the first book to catch her eye and dropped into one of the many bean bags. Looking through the pictures, Clarke could almost feel herself brimming with magical potential. She knew they were going to create something amazing today. Clarke found herself lingering on the images with particularly brilliant uses of green. It wasn't normally a colour she was drawn to, being that it was associated with her rival house, but today she could very clearly see the appeal.

"Clarke?! Why didn't you tell me you were here?" Raven asked as she trotted over.

" I know better than to interrupt you when you're in the zone, Raven."

"Come on, I'm not that bad." She dropped into a bean bag adjacent to her, jittery but altogether more collected than Clarke.

"No, I suppose you're not," Clarke relented.

"Hey, are you ok?" Raven asked concerned, noticing a drop in Clarke's mood.

"I'm a little apprehensive is all," Clarke admitted. "I did some reading on new magic and it can be extremely unpredictable, Raven. What if we screw it up? What if we hurt ourselves, or worse, someone else? We don't even know if there could be side effects."

Raven put a hand on Clarke's knee and looked her calmly in the eye.

"No offence, Clarke, but leave the science side of the magic to me. You are the brilliant artist in all of this, I've got the rest."

"Raven, I contributed more to this than just drawing," Clarke replied defensively.

"Of course you did, Clarke, that's not what I meant. I knew you were more than just an artist the moment I spotted you wandlessly manipulating your doodles in the back of History of Magic class. That's how I knew all of this would work," Raven praised her genuinely. "Clarke, no one our age should be able to perform wandless magic yet, let alone with the extreme skill that I have seen you do it with and with absolutely no coaching."

"But I've never used wandless magic in any other way," Clarke protested.

"That's because it came naturally to you to use it the way you did, with your art."

"Alright, ok, I promise I am still really excited to do this," Clarke said, shyly beaming.

"Now, is there anything else on your mind before we get down to business? Wandless magic is safest when you have a clear head."

Raven moved to kneel behind Clarke and started massaging her shoulders. Clarke's mind strayed back to Divination class and the mysterious girl she had met. She was a Ravenclaw and said she had spoken to Raven a few times so it made sense that if Clarke asked, Raven could probably tell her who she was. Clarke shook her head at that idea though, she didn't want to find out her name from anybody but her.

"No, I think I'm good," Clarke found herself saying.

"Ok, then let's get started." Raven dragged Clarke up out of the bean bag and over to a tattoo bench. "So did you manage to bring the Mandrakes?"

"I did and I'm going to be permanently indebted to a friend because of it." Clarke lifted the pots out of her backpack and onto the bench. "Remind me again why we have to use these?"

"Because," Raven started to explain for seemingly the umpteenth time, "we've only tested on fruit so far and while that has been successful, they are non-magical objects. Mandrakes have the closest thing to wizard skin that is available to us. Performing new magic on a magical being is risky, we don't know how a witch or wizard's body will react."

Clarke nodded, she understood the logical reasons they needed to test on something other than themselves but that didn't mean her conscience was happy about it.

"I just don't feel right testing on magical creatures. Isn't there some sort of law against exactly this kind of thing? What if they are magically protected and we get sent to Azkaban?" Clarke said, airing out every worry she had.

"No one is going to send us to Azkaban when we've just invented the coolest new magic in a century," Raven assured her.

"Ok, so potentially going to Azkaban aside, how would Hagrid feel if we hurt one of these little guys? Hagrid nursed them back to health for weeks when those flesh eating slugs got to them last Halloween."

For the first time Raven looked conflicted about using the Mandrakes and Clarke knew she had won. Her moral judgement may have been clouded when it came to the Mandrakes but not when it came to Hagrid. Raven nodded, having silently made her decision.

"No Mandrakes," Raven agreed. "But that means we go right to testing on ourselves, are you ok with that?"

"I mean I'm worried but I'm more comfortable testing on ourselves than on anyone else. We created this magic, it's only right we try it out on ourselves first."

"You're right, you're right," Raven said, psyching herself up. "And besides, we have world renowned Healer, Abby Griffin, waiting for us in the Hospital Wing if things go wrong."

"I'd let both of my arms fall off before telling my Mom what we were up to," Clarke joked.

"So now that that decision is made there is only one thing left to do," Raven informed Clarke. "You need to decide what you want a tattoo of!"

Clarke thought she would be ready with an answer when this day came. She had been doodling on her arms for years and then had slowly learned how to make them move. But all of them had only ever been temporary. She knew that if she made a mistake that it would fade away after a couple of days but if the spell they had created was right, then she would get to keep it forever.

"I don't know what I want, it's a big decision."

"Don't think of it that way," Raven suggested, grabbing a ream of clear parchment from under the bench and handing Clarke a brand new quill. "This all started because of your doodles, things you have been comfortable drawing for years. You should commemorate this moment with a doodle. Just draw the first few things that come to your head and then you can pick your favourite one."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Clarke said impressed.

"You say that as if I'm known for coming up with awful ideas," Raven admonished as Clarke started scribbling away on the page. Raven leaned back in her chair and left Clarke at it, knowing when not to interrupt her zone.

Clarke drew without really thinking about it, she let the quill lead her across the page, flourishing into images she didn't know she was even going for. She sat up straight and looked at what her mind had come up with. There were things that she expected, like the Gryffindor lion which was a frequent topic of her doodles in class, the crest of her favourite quidditch team, the Holyhead Harpies, and dragons because c'mon, _dragons._

Then there was a couple she wasn't expecting. She had drawn a Griffin, exactly like the one she had seen in the tea leaves. Clarke immediately ruled that one out, not one to be so narcissistic as to get a tattoo that represented herself. Her eyes drifted to the last drawing on the page. It was a little raccoon and Clarke couldn't help but laugh. Of course she had thought to draw that after to lying to the Ravenclaw girl about it.

Raven looked over at her in confusion, leaning forward to catch a glimpse of the parchment.

"So, have you decided on something?"

Clarke tore away the parchment around the raccoon and crumpled it up into a ball before holding up her chosen doodle for Raven to see.

"A raccoon. You want your first tattoo to be a raccoon?" Raven asked with an impish grin.

"Yes," Clarke replied with conviction.

"I suppose it wouldn't be right if any part of this was normal," Raven said with a laugh. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Clarke's eyes steeled and she tied up her hair.

"Then get to work."

Clarke placed her hand beside the picture of the raccoon on the parchment. She held her other hand above it in the air and slowly began to bring it to life on the parchment. She used the same movements and gestures that she did when playing with her drawings in any of her classes, trying to convince herself that this time was no different. She gently coaxed the raccoon to move from the parchment and merge onto the skin of her right hand. Clarke turned her wrist upwards and made the raccoon curl into a ball on her wrist, then looked to Raven.

Raven opened her notebook to the page with the final draft of the spell.

"Remember Clarke, make sure to pronounce each part clearly and correctly," Raven said sternly but gently, not wanting to break her concentration. Clarke simply nodded, without lifting her eyes from her wrist, letting Raven know that she heard her.

Clarke had recited the spell so many times in her head that she was nearly certain she didn't even need to see it again but glanced over to the page Raven held open beside her just to be on the safe side.

With the spell fresh in her mind, Clarke looked back to the image on her wrist and tapped into the flow of magic emanating from her fingers.

"Corium pigmento-motum," Clarke chanted.

Emerald green light began to pulse from Clarke's palm and washed over the image on her wrist. Raven's eyes widened in surprise, the spell had never manifested itself in this way when they had been trying it out on fruit. Raven was worried and looked to Clarke but she didn't seem to be in any pain so she let her continue, knowing that it would be more dangerous to try and break the spell before it was finished.

Clarke wasn't sure how long she had been holding the spell but knew that she would know when it was time to stop. The last pulse of green light left Clarke's palm and seeped into the black ink on her wrist. The pair sat motionless, eyes fixed to the raccoon on Clarke's wrist. Clarke's hand was still frozen in mid air. She flicked her eyes across to meet Raven's, whose face held an equally blank expression, neither daring to breathe.

After a few more seconds with no movement, Clarke put down her left hand and let out a long sigh.

"I guess we must have done something wrong," Clarke said, unable to hide her disappointment.

"It must have done something though, Clarke." Raven couldn't tear her eyes away from Clarke's wrist. "It never looked like that when we tried it out before."

"I don't know, what should we do, Raven?" Clarke asked nervously.

"I'm not sure," Raven admitted. "Either way, you need to cast the second part of the spell."

"Right," Clarke remembered. For this part of the spell, Clarke took out her wand, there was not need to make it riskier than it already was by adding in more wandless magic than necessary. She pointed her wand at her wrist. "Impervio." A clear sheen swept over the fresh ink and Clarke's wrist tingled, though not painfully.

Frustrated, Clarke cleared up the parchment and shoved it in the bin. "Well that's months of work wasted."

"Clarke, we can try again, we don't know that it hasn't worked yet," Raven tried to console her.

"Raven, we can't keep testing faulty magic on ourselves!" Clarke growled angrily. "We don't even know what the side effects of this are yet."

"We don't even know that there even _is_ any yet!" Raven pointed out.

"So what am I supposed to do, Raven, just wait? Wait until something happens?" Clarke reached up to pull the tie out of her hair, she couldn't think when her hair was pulled back so tight.

"Clarke stop!" Raven shouted suddenly. Clarke looked at Raven like she was crazy and saw her staring at her wrist. Clarke pulled her wrist forward from behind her head and gasped. The raccoon was no longer curled up in a ball on her wrist. It was lazily pottering up her arm to her elbow.

"Oh my god!" Clarke touched the raccoon with her forefinger and it froze. It looked up at her with dark black eyes, unsure of what to do. Clarke stroked it's head gently. Raven sidled up beside Clarke silently, clearly in awe.

"That…is too fucking cool! Can you feel where it is? Like when it moves?" Raven asked excitedly.

"Not a bit," Clarke whispered, scared to spook the little guy.

"That's it, it's my turn!" Raven grabbed Clarke's hand and dragged her back to the bench. She scattered some parchment back in front of Clarke and started listing off ideas she had. "Maybe fireworks? Or a shooting star? Or a meteor shower?! Just draw them all up and I'll see what I like."

Clarke hesitated before sitting down next to her. "Wait, Raven, maybe we should think about this."

"What's there to think about? We know it works now!"

"We know it works right now. But what about tomorrow? Or next week? I think we should set a trial period of two weeks. If nothing happens in that time, I'll be more than happy to tattoo you up all you want but I couldn't live with myself if I tattooed you before knowing that it's safe." Clarke looked at Raven imploringly, hoping that she would understand where she was coming from and not be upset.

Raven grew quiet and screwed her mouth to one side.

"The impatient child in me wants to stamp my foot and make you tattoo me now but the scientist in me knows that what you're suggesting makes sense and is the responsible thing to do."

"Thank you so much for understanding, Raven. I really think it's for the best."

"You're just lucky that logical, reasonable Raven is here right now, you can deal with impatient child Raven later," she teased.

"I think I can handle that," Clarke said with a smile. "So, you know the science to the spell, what kind of warning signs should I be looking out for that it hasn't worked or that something's gone wrong?"

Raven immediately switched back to business mode and reopened her notebook. "Funnily enough, a lot of the signs that it hasn't worked are symptoms that muggles get when they have gotten a dodgy tattoo. If you experience any redness around it or swelling then let me know. The colour should not fade, if it does then the magic is failing which means the spell hasn't worked. Other than that I don't really know what you need to look for, I suppose if it does anything you don't expect it to, note the time that it happened and let me know as soon as possible."

Clarke listened intently to Raven's advice but a part of her knew that they had succeeded. She looked back to the raccoon that had curled back up at her wrist and seemed to be sleeping. Little zzz's were appearing above it's head every couple of seconds before disappearing shortly after. Clarke didn't know how she was going to concentrate in class ever again.

"So, what do we do now?" Clarke asked, looking at Raven slightly awkwardly. She hoped that just because their work together was nearly over that they wouldn't just stop talking to each other anymore, she had grown close to the girl and consider her to be a good friend.

"I think we should celebrate." With a twinkle in her eye Raven reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of fire-whisky and two glasses.

"How on earth did you get your hands on that?" This girl was just constantly full of surprises. "And I can't have too much, I have to visit a friend in the Hospital Wing later and I can't be drunk, my Mom will be there."

"Don't worry, Griffin, I promise to drink you under the table some other time and this, since you asked, was a gift from a certain 7th year whose broom I fixed." Raven was smug as she poured out two generous helpings for them.

"Fixed? Or enhanced?" Clarke quirked a brow at Raven in question.

"Hey, any enhancements I made were within the Official Quidditch Regulation Guidelines…or at least, that's what I told him." Raven easily knocked back her shot without so much as a flinch and Clarke realised how little she really knew about the girl sitting across from her.

"Raven…we're friends, right?" Clarke made a point of quickly knocking back her shot before looking back at Raven.

"Of course we are, Griffin. Why would you even ask me that?"

"I just wasn't sure if this was just some project to you that once it was finished you would move on from." Clarke looked at the bottom of her empty glass, already contemplating another.

"Clarke, I am always moving from project to project, that's just who I am, I get restless." Clarke nodded, expecting as much. "But that doesn't mean that I don't keep and cherish the friends I make along the way and if I'm being honest, you're one of the only people in this school that I would call a true friend."

Clarke beamed and poured them both another shot.

"Great, I take it that means we can hang out now in public and not just in here, working on magic that could get us expelled?"

"Of course!" Raven agreed eagerly before they both took their second shots.

"I can't wait to introduce you to my friend, Octavia. I have a feeling you two will get along." Clarke enjoyed the warmth spreading through her body and watched her raccoon snoozing away peacefully.

"And I can't wait to introduce you to my boyfriend, Finn!"

…..


	3. Chapter 3

**What is this Magic? Chapter 3**

Clarke watched as her new tattoo paced up and down her arm. She wondered if it was pacing because it was affected by how she was feeling. She could hardly sit still. There was still twenty-five more minutes of Transfiguration left before she was free to go visit Octavia in the hospital wing. She knew she was ok, her Mom had plenty of anti-venom at the ready. What she was more nervous about was that Octavia was going to want answers and by Merlin did she deserve them.

"Ms. Griffin!" Professor McGonagall snapped from the front of the class.

Clarke bolted upright and shrugged her sleeve down to her wrist. "Yes, Professor?"

"I better not find one of those Muggle contraptions you've all been using lately hidden up your sleeve!"

"Of course not, Professor." Clarke's phone was hidden away at the bottom of her bag.

"Then what is so much more interesting that trying to make a bird cage disappear?"

Clarke looked around and saw she was the only student left with a very present bird cage on her desk.

"I'm sorry Professor, Octavia is in the hospital wing and I'm just worried about her is all."

Professor McGonagall nodded sagely. "Yes, I did hear that Ms. Blake had an unfortunate run I with some Venomous Tentacula but Ms. Griffin I'm sure you know better than anyone that she is in excellent hands with your mother."

"Of course, I'm sorry again Professor."

"That said, if you can successfully use a Vanishing Charm to make your bird cage disappear then I shall allow you to leave class early to visit her."

Clarke brightened and turned all of her attention on the cage. She had quite an audience now, every head in the class turned towards her, many of which she was sure wanted her to fail. Slytherins…

Clarke lifted her wand and pictured her desk without the cage on it and confidently uttered, "Evanesco."

The cage immediately seemed to dematerialise. Clarke beamed up at Professor McGonagall proudly who nodded back with a smile. Clarke hopped up, stuffed her book in her bag and took off for the hospital wing.

…

Clarke opened the doors to the hospital wing as quietly as she possibly could and stepped inside. Her mother wasn't at the front desk much to Clarke's relief. She really didn't want to face the usual barrage of questions that usually accompanied chats with her mother.

She tiptoed past the desk and looked right, towards the stretch of beds. Only three were occupied but they all had their curtains shut for privacy. She stretched her neck out and looked left towards the supply stores and saw the door left slightly ajar. Her mother had to be inside. Composing herself, Clarke casually, but briskly, strode towards the beds.

Clarke whipped out her wand and held it at mid-thigh. She looked over her shoulder before whispering _wingardium leviosa._ She levitated the bottom of the first curtain high enough to see the chart at the end of the bed. It wasn't Octavia. It was some guy named Sam who had been on the receiving end of an _Eat Slugs_ jinx. Clarke lowered the curtain and hastily moved on to the next bed. Levitating the curtain she sighed in relief at the sight of O's name and ducked inside.

Octavia was laying back in the bed, propped up by three pillows, tapping away on her phone. (She had taken very well to Muggle technology.) Clarke edged closer to the bed and caught Octavia's attention.

"Griffin!" She practically yelled.

Clarke made a shushing gesture and immediately pointed her wand in the direction of the supply store and muttered "Muffliato."

Octavia, looking rather pale, struggled to sit up straight in the bed. Clarke winced at seeing her in pain and gingerly sat down, cross-legged on the end of the bed.

"Clarke? Is that you?" Octavia asked unsurely.

"What? O, yes, of course it's me. I'm sitting in front of you, you're looking right at me."

"You sure? Because I've been having some fierce hallucinations from the venom. I just had a really interesting conversation about space with a Doxy which really just turned out to be a lamp."

"I promise it's me. How else would I know that…" Clarke pondered something that only she would know about Octavia, "that for you a boggart would transform into a cupboard?"

"You know I hate small spaces," Octavia said with a shudder.

"Remember in 3rd year, Professor Indra and the whole class thought there was something wrong with the boggart?" Clarke teased.

"We don't talk about it!" Octavia exclaimed. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be in Transfiguration?"

"Shouldn't you be resting? Not texting?"

"I can rest and text at the same time," Octavia retorted.

"Are you in a lot of pain?"

"Not anymore. I pretty much passed out as soon as it bit me. I woke up an hour or so ago."

"You look like shit, O."

"Thanks Clarke, you really know how to make a girl feel better, don't you?"

"It's true!" Clarke argued defensively. "What were you thinking? I told you to distract him, not get yourself killed!"

"It worked didn't it? You got the Mandrakes?"

"I did, not that we ended up needing them…" Clarke admitted guiltily.

"You mean I almost _killed_ myself for no good reason?"

"I'm so sorry, O. I promise I'll make it up to you!" Clarke urged, giving her feet a gentle squeeze.

"You can start with an explanation." Octavia could see the hesitation in Clarke's eyes and bristled. "Clarke if you seriously don't trust me with whatever you've got going on then I know it can't be anything good and maybe I _should_ be telling your Mom that there's something up with you."

"Alright!" Clarke relented. "It's nothing bad, just not strictly legal, I don't think."

"Clarke, are you in trouble?"

"Not yet, but I could be if things go wrong, just, just let me start from the beginning. You know Raven?"

"Obviously, she's the other half of the reason I'm in this hospital bed."

"Right, so a couple months back, at the start of semester she sent me a note during History of Magic. She had seen me doodling during class and saw me do that thing I do where I transfer the drawing from the parchment to my skin."

"You're still doing that?" Octavia admonished. "No wonder your grades are so bad." Clarke hit her foot playfully.

"I only do it during the boring classes." Octavia looked at her pointedly and Clarke rolled her eyes.

"Well, it's mostly just the boring classes. Anyway, Raven and I got talking after class that day. She had an idea after she saw what I could do. Tattoos are fairly commonplace in the Muggle word and are so popular that a lot of witches and wizards have them too. Raven thought we could take it a step further and create magical, moving tattoos!" Clarke explained excitedly.

Octavia's mouth dropped open. "Clarke, you're sixteen and what you're considering would take highly advanced magic, if the magic even exists. You could damage yourself for life, new magic is extremely temperamental."

Clarke nodded her understanding. These were all things she and Raven had considered but they had done extensive research on both Muggle tattooing and any attempts made by the wizarding community to do it. They had been researching and crafting the perfect spell together whenever they had a free moment since that History of Magic class in early September.

Octavia was still harping on about the potential dangers of what they were doing before Clarke finally had enough and interjected.

"Octavia, we're kind of past just considering it now."

Octavia's eyes widened. "Clarke, you didn't."

She couldn't help but smile. Octavia was worried now but she was sure that once Octavia saw what they had created she would be on board.

"Show me. Now," Octavia ordered.

"Sheesh Octavia, there's no need to freak out. It worked and it's amazing." Clarke held her arm out in front of Octavia and pulled up her sleeve in one fluid motion. Clarke kept her eyes on Octavia to gauge her reaction.

"Very funny, Clarke. You're such an ass, you really had me going there." Clarke looked down at her arm in confusion. The little racoon that had been wandering around her arm all afternoon was gone. She turned her arm over and pulled her sleeve up as far as it could go.

"It probably got bored and went for a walk," Clarke assured her, checking her other arm. "I suppose it's not restricted to just one part of the body," Clarke mused. "I should make a note of that and Raven and I might be able to work that into the spell if people want them to stay in a certain area."

Octavia's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "Wait, hold up. You're planning on magically tattooing other students?!"

"Well yeah, that was the plan," Clarke replied distractedly as she searched for the racoon.

"My head is going to implode, this is way too much information and I am heavily medicated right now," Octavia said in a panic.

"Octavia, first things first, you've gotta help me find it!"

Octavia tried to focus. "So it could be anywhere on your body right now?"

"I guess?" Said Clarke.

"Well then you best strip, Griffin. You'll never find it with all those robes on."

"Ugh, you're right," Clarke admitted with a huff, standing up from the bed. She couldn't help but giggle at the situation. If it weren't for the fact that Octavia had almost died to help her do something dangerous she was sure with a bit of fire whiskey involved Octavia would be chanting _strip, strip, strip_ at her, rather than sitting and staring at her stonily, clearly unimpressed.

Now in just her bra and knickers Clarke held out her arms and rotated slowly letting Octavia scan her eyes over her body. With her back to Octavia she lifted her hair from her neck too.

"Nothing, I don't see anything, Clarke. It must not have worked."

Clarke peeked inside her bra just to be sure. "But it did, O. You should have seen it, it was so cute, you're definitely going to want one." She turned back to Octavia. "There's still one place we haven't checked," Clarke teased.

"Don't you dare drop your undies Griffin, this is weird enough as it is," Octavia ordered, hand half raised, ready to cover her eyes if necessary.

"Relax, O, I'm just kidding. I know you only want inside one girl's pants." Octavia blushed and looked away, making Clarke feel guilty.

"Aw O, I'm sorry." Clarke stepped forward and bent down to give Octavia a tight hug. "Don't worry, O, I'll help you get the girl."

Octavia hugged her back. "Thanks, Clarke."

"Ms. Blake, how are you feel –" The curtains around the bed were suddenly drawn back by Abby Griffin checking in on Octavia.

All three of them froze. How was Clarke going to explain why she was in her underwear by Octavia's hospital bed?

Abby had her eyes closed, a firm grip still on the curtain.

"Clarke, this better not be what it looks like. Start explaining," she ordered.

Clarke let go of Octavia and stood up straight. "Well…you see.."

"Clothes first, Clarke, please." Said Abby, eyes still shut.

"Right." Clarke hastily started redressing. "So, Mom, it's a funny story…"

Octavia suddenly burst out laughing. "Healer Griffin, please don't be mad at Clarke, it's my fault."

"What do you mean, Octavia?" Abby asked, clearly irked.

"Remember how you told me when I woke up that I might suffer from some hallucinations from the venom for a little while?" Abby nodded. "Well when Clarke here arrived I was tripping pretty hard and thought she was completely naked, like I was imagining her naked as the day she was born. And, it was really freaking me out because my rational mind knew she was clothed but I could see _eeeverything._ So Clarke thought maybe if she took her clothes off that I would hallucinate her with her clothes on and it worked! Poor Clarke has had to have this whole conversation in the nip just to keep me calm, it was so thoughtful but now I've just come to and now I'm seeing what you're seeing Abby and I'm so sorry, you shouldn't have had to see Clarke naked like that!"

Octavia looked at Clarke pointedly to play along.

"Yeah, Mom, O was having a bad trip and I just wanted to calm her down."

"Clarke, if that's the case you should have just come to me. In fact, you should have informed me you were here when you arrived." Abby said sternly. "But I'm glad you're feeling a bit better, Octavia. The hallucinations from the venom can be quite severe, you're lucky that's all you saw."

"I know, right?" Octavia agreed. "I'm sorry again Healer Griffin."

Abby pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "Clarke, I think it's time you left. Octavia will be well enough to leave the hospital wing tomorrow. You can see her then."

Clarke nodded quickly and made some final adjustments to her robes. "See you tomorrow, O."

"Bye, Clarke."

…..

As Clarke left the hospital wing she sent Raven a message: _RoR, 15 minutes!_

When Clarke arrived, Raven was already waiting for her, lounging in a bean bag chair.

"What's so important that you had to drag me away from the best roast chicken of my life in the Great Hall?"

Clarke marched over to Raven and pulled up her sleeve. Raven didn't seem at all perturbed by her blank skin.

"Raven! It's gone!"

Raven rolled her eyes and sat up. "What? Did you think it would hang around on your wrist all day? It's probably gone and nestled in your armpit or something, ya know, nice and warm?"

"No Raven, it's _gone_ , gone. Octavia just had to examine my whole body!"

"She did, did she?" Raven said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Not like that," Clarke deadpanned.

"Ugh, why do you have to suck all the fun out of it?" Raven moaned.

"Raven. Where is it?"

"How should I know?"

"I'm freaking out her Raven, please think."

"Alright," Raven said finally focusing. She began to pace as she considered. "There are a couple options here. The first is that the spell simply didn't work and it faded away."

Clarke shook her head. "I know it worked, Raven."

"Well then it likely works the same way as other inanimate but mobile magic."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. The portraits around the castle, the collector's cards in Chocolate Frogs…"

"They can leave their frames…" Clarke realised. "So, if my body's the frame…"

"Then it can leave it." Raven confirmed.

"But where can it go?"

"Now _that_ , I'm not sure of. If the tattoo does work like the portraits then it can move to other bodies."

"So it could be on anyone in the school?! What if it settles on a teacher?"

Raven shook her head. "I don't think so. The spell was influenced by you, my bet is that ican transfer to a close friend or something."

"Ok, that's not so bad."

"You might want to get talking to your friends before someone starts shooting their mouth off about a moving racoon tattoo."

"How do I even go about asking my friends about this?" Clarke sat down in a bean bag, head in her hands.

"Actually, I have another idea." Clarke peeked at Raven through her fingers and muttered a stifled, "What?"

"You created this magic, Clarke and while it's new and temperamental, you still cast it. Therefore you should, in theory, be able to control it."

"How do I control what's not there, Raven?"

"I don't have all the answers, Clarke! I'm sure there must be some literature on the magic used to design magical portraits."

As soon as Clarke nodded her head in agreement a new stack of books began to materialise in their research corner.

"Merlin's beard, I love this school," Raven said with a content sigh.

"Ok, let's get reading, the quicker I figure out how to control this thing the better."

"Sorry Griffin, no can do, gotta go meet Finn." Raven started packing up her things. "Let me know if you have a breakthrough though." Clarke gaped at Raven helplessly.

"Don't look at me like that, this isn't as drastic as you think," Raven assured her. "Later!"

Clarke waved Raven away in silence before sitting down in the armchair next to the stack of books.

…..

Clarke was trying to keep herself from dozing off. She had been pouring over the books for hours and hadn't come across anything that she could apply to her situation.

From what she had read she had learned that portraits are often made while the person being depicted is still alive and it took some seriously technical magic to imbue their sense of being into the portrait. There was very little literature regarding how the figures in portraits are able to move between frames, unless it was a mirrored portrait in a completely different location. But because Clarke had no idea where her tattoo had gone she couldn't begin to understand its motivation.

There were still six more books she had yet to crack open and she was getting increasingly irritated at her lack of results.

"This is useless!" She cried out to the room, dropping the heavy volume she had been perusing back on the desk. The books suddenly disappeared with a sharp 'snap' and Clarke felt guilty for upsetting the room.

Clarke pulled up her sleeve for what must have been the hundredth time that day hoping that against all odds it had come back.

Still nothing.

"Oh for crying out loud!" She shouted. "This is ridiculous, where are you? Just COME BACK!" She gestured wildly at her arm before flopping back in the chair.

She screwed her eyes shut and took long, deep breaths. She looked back down at her arm and couldn't believe her eyes. There it was, peaking its little snout out from behind her sleeve before timidly walking along her forearm and sitting in its original place.

It looked up at her with guilty, black eyes and Clarke felt all her anger drain out of her body.

"Don't look at me like that, you scared me!" It twiddled the end of its bushy tail in its paws and looked down.

"Where were you?"

The racoon perked its head up and stood on its two back legs, cupping its front paws together before releasing what was unmistakeably a raven. It flew away from the racoon for a couple beats then faded into her skin.

"You were with Raven this whole time?" Clarke asked before realising what was actually happening in front of her.

She could communicate with her tattoo.

….


	4. Chapter 4

Clarke had messaged Raven begging her to meet up 40 minutes ago and still hadn't gotten a reply. She was probably still with Finn, she had been neglecting him lately, spending all of her free time with Clarke. She was still hoping that she might bump into them so had been meandering her way around the whole castle. But it was late and she was starving, having missed dinner in the Great Hall so she thought it was time for her to retire, her revelation could wait until tomorrow.

The common room was almost empty, only a couple of 6th and 7th year students were still up, likely doing homework or study. Clarke tried not to remind herself of all the course work she was allowing to build up due to her new extracurricular activity. Once in bed she snacked on some cauldron cakes she had kept from a feast a few days ago. She closed the curtains around her four-poster bed and got under the covers.

"Lumos," she whispered. Laying her wand down on the mattress she checked her arm. The raccoon was gone again.

"Hey, come back," she asked quietly. The person in the bed next to her groaned in their sleep and Clarke winced. She didn't need people thinking that she spoke to herself in her sleep and from the look of her still blank arm, the little guy hadn't heard her anyway. Clarke deliberated for a couple moments before lifting her wand like a quill and lightly writing the question across her skin. Much to her amazement the words appeared like ink on her skin before slowly seeping within.

Clarke held her breath for a couple beats before the raccoon suddenly crawled its way up her fingers, along the back of her hand and down onto her wrist. _This is so sick_ Clarke thought to herself proudly.

 _Where were you?-_ Clarke wrote, trying the same questions as earlier. Once again the raccoon released the raven. Clarke tried not to be annoyed that it seemed to be spending more time with Raven than with her.

 _Why do you go to Raven?-_ She figured that if Raven didn't have all the answers then maybe she could get some direct from the source. This time the raccoon released a small heart that floated above him slightly before inflating bigger and bigger and bigger until it burst and toppled him over. Clarke rolled her eyes. Of course it loved Raven, everyone loves Raven.

 _Where is Raven?-_ The raccoon paused to think for a moment. It appeared to walk in a nonsensical pattern until Clarke realised its paw prints weren't fading away. It was writing out a message! She squinted and managed to make out _Common room_ in the scrawl of tiny paw prints. So Raven was back in the Ravenclaw common room. She had been hoping to discover one of Raven's hideaways in the castle. Not only was Raven famed for her ability to merge Muggle technology and magic, she was also known for having the most extensive knowledge of the castle. But if Raven was back why hadn't she replied to her message?

Clarke considered for a moment whether or not she wanted to know the answer to her next question.

 _What is Raven doing?_ Clarke wondered if this should be considered an invasion of privacy. Would her tattoo tell her what Raven was doing if she was doing something she wouldn't want Clarke to know about? Clarke was going to look away before it answered but figured that Raven wouldn't mind considering that it would answer burning questions about the magic they had created together.

The raccoon looked up and slowly a star filled sky appeared above its head.

 _Raven is star-gazing?_ Clarke asked incredulously. The raccoon nodded emphatically. Raven seemed to be full of surprises. Clarke had so many questions. Each new piece of information she gleaned from the tattoo raised a thousand more. Was the tattoo even solely Clarke's anymore if she shared it with Raven? Could Raven ask it questions about Clarke? Would it answer Raven or only Clarke? Clarke decided to ask it one more question before calling it a night.

 _What is Raven thinking about?_ She scribbled. The raccoon looked wearily up at Clarke as if it were tired of all the questions. Thought clouds began pop up above its head. Clarke furrowed her brow when she saw what materialised in the largest one. It was a griffin. What was Raven doing thinking about her? _Me?_ Clarke asked finally. The raccoon nodded sleepily before curling up in a ball and falling asleep. Clarke was more confused than ever but the events of the day were catching up with her and she quickly succumbed to an uneasy sleep.

…..

Clarke was beside herself. Raven had finally replied to her message but they couldn't meet up until after all their classes that day. Double Defence Against the Dark Arts had been a disaster from start to finish and advanced potions was difficult enough at the best of times but with a distracted mind and her lab partner still in the Hospital Wing, it was downright disastrous. Ironically Clarke was supposed to be making Draught of Peace which, when brewed successfully, relieves anxiety and agitation in the drinker. Clarke could have done with a litre of it right about then but, as it was, the contents of her cauldron looked like they would stress out even a Qilin.

She had over-shaken her porcupine quills and had definitely added a few too many drops of Hellebore. At this stage the potion should have been a turquoise blue but hers appeared to be a putrid green, not unlike a boiling pot of troll bogies.

Mr. Sinclair came alongside her table and looked in the pot. "Clarke, I think you know what I'm going to say to you." Clarke dropped the last of her powdered moonstone back onto the table and let out an exasperated sigh.

"I know, it's not acceptable. If I did my O.W.L exam now I'd be getting a Troll." Sinclair nodded his head in agreement.

"Clarke, I would expect this from the most remedial level student, not from a student that has gotten O's and E's from the moment they set foot in the school. I've been cutting you some slack these last couple of months but I don't think I can avoid telling your Mother at this stage."

"Mr. Sinclair, please don't do that!" Clarke begged. "Give me one more chance, I promise I'll be back to myself in no time." He contemplated her request.

"Alright. Go clean this sorry mess up and you can go but I want an essay outlining and explaining all the mistakes you made in this attempt and how you will rectify them next time."

"Thank you, Mr. Sinclair."

….

As Clarke left the dungeons she sent Raven a message. _Meet me in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom._

Clarke arrived before Raven. She sat up on the broken sink and waited impatiently. A few minutes later Raven poked her head inside and looked at Clarke in confusion.

"Why are we meeting here and not in the _Room_? You know now that Myrtle doesn't hang around in here as much anymore that students actually come in here." Raven reminded her as she walked over.

"I know but most students are still afraid of it because a whopping great snake came out of this sink once." Clarke laughed. "And I really just didn't want to climb all those stairs, I was just in the dungeons."

"Gotcha." Raven replied in understanding. "Now what's so urgent that it would require 20 text messages between last night and this morning?"

"I thought you would have noticed by now."

"Noticed what, Clarke?"

"When my tattoo leaves me, it goes to you." Clarke explained.

"What? No, it doesn't. I would have seen it," Raven pointed out.

"Probably not if you weren't looking for it."

"Fair enough," Raven conceded. "Guess that means it's my turn to strip. Wait, how do you know it comes to me? Or is this just some elaborate scheme to get me out of my clothes?"

Clarke rolled her eyes, beckoned Raven closer and held out her arm. The raccoon looked up at them expectantly.

"Who were you with yesterday?" Clarke asked. The ink raven was released and girl Raven gasped.

"It can _talk_ to you?" Raven asked in shock.

"In its own way," Clarke confirmed.

"That is too freaking cool."

"There's more," Clarke informed her. "Go to her," she ordered. They watched as the tattoo immediately disappeared.

"So you can send it to me? But why me?" Raven asked confused.

"Well we have to find him on you first," Clarke highlighted. "So, yes, you do have to strip."

"These are the strangest stripping circumstances ever," Raven said with a chuckle. "Should we play some music? Make it feel less awkward? Did you have something in mind?" Raven teased.

"Fuck off," Clarke scoffed. "Just shut up and take your clothes off." She averted her eyes as Raven stripped, it felt invasive to watch even though she was going to have to look at her anyway.

"Alright, search me, Griffin," Raven ordered. She stood in a confident, superhero stance with both hands planted firmly on her hips. Clarke hopped down from the sink and approached her to take a closer look. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Raven turned so her back was to Clarke. "Anything?" She asked over her shoulder.

Clarke shook her head. "This makes no sense. It told me it was with you."

"Maybe he's back with you?" Raven suggested. Clarke checked her wrist but there was nothing there.

"Ugh, I really don't want to strip again," Clarke moaned.

"Afraid to get naked with me, Griffin?" Raven teased before stepping forward and poking Clarke in the ribs. She slapped her hand away sharply and gave Raven a warning stare. "Oh, someone has the tickles!" Raven squealed with delight before launching into a full on assault.

"Raven, no!" Clarke tried to deflect Raven's jabs but she was too quick for her. She tried to squirm away from her but was backed into the sink. Raven stopped for a second at the jarring motion and Clarke seized her opportunity. She grabbed Raven by the wrists and spun them around, Raven's back now against the sink.

"Ah, that's cold!" Raven cried out.

"Are you going to stop?" Clarke asked sternly. Raven was looking her in the eye smugly when something over her shoulder caught her eye.

"Ugh…Clarke?" Raven said hesitantly.

Clarke shook her head at Raven's deflection. "Are you going to stop?" She asked again.

"Clarke, we've got company," Raven choked out.

She looked over her shoulder and blanched, immediately releasing her hold on Raven's wrists.

It was the girl from Divination class, standing tall in front of the door, arms folded firmly across her chest. An intense blush spreading up her neck as she tried to look anywhere but Raven's scantily clad form.

"What are you doing here, Woods?" Raven barked. The girl's eyes hardened at her indignation.

"A student passing by informed me of strange noises coming from this lavatory and as Prefect I felt it was my duty to investigate," she explained flatly.

Clarke was blushing profusely. She stepped away from Raven as if to prove nothing was going on which only further revealed her semi-nakedness. Raven scowled at Clarke before picking up her robes to cover herself.

"We weren't doing anything untoward, Woods." Raven stated defensively.

"That's not how it looks from here, Reyes," Woods replied before blushing again. She kept a steady gaze on Raven but seemed reluctant to so much as glimpse at the blonde.

Clarke stepped forward slightly and the girl's eyes flitted towards her but then back to Raven.

"Look," Clarke said tentatively, "please believe me when I say it's not what it looks like…"

"There's no need to explain, Clarke." Woods cut across her. "Please spare me the details."

Raven huffed and started getting dressed. "So what are you gonna do, Woods? Snitch on us?"

"Please don't do that! My Mom just caught me naked in Octavia's hospital bed, she'll murder me if she hears about this!" Clarke blurted out without thinking. Raven guffawed and Woods looked stunned, avoiding looking at Clarke again. "That was also a misunderstanding!" Clarke raced to explain.

"I have no doubt," Woods said unconvinced. "However, while the incident with Octavia is none of my concern, I'm afraid it falls under my purview as Prefect to handle this situation how I see fit." Clarke was on the verge of begging but was fixed with a hard stare from Woods to keep quiet. "That will be 20 points from both your houses," she declared. "And I will keep the incident to myself." Clarke breathed a sigh of relief but Raven was less than impressed.

"Trust you to take points from your own house, Woods."

The taller Ravenclaw girl didn't deign to respond and held her ground. Raven narrowed her eyes, never one to walk away from an argument the loser. Now fully dressed she reached down and took Clarke's hand in her own, interlocking their fingers. Woods' eyes immediately followed the action, her lips reducing to a thin line at the sight.

"Come on, Clarke, let's go find somewhere a little more private," Raven declared tauntingly as she pulled Clarke out of the lavatory.

Clarke only managed a quick glance over her shoulder as Raven dragged her down the corridor towards the staircases and was met with stormy, emerald eyes that quickly looked away as if they were caught doing something they shouldn't. She let Raven more or less guide her all the way to the Room of Requirement. Raven tossed her bag on one of the worktops and let out a frustrated breath.

"That girl is so weird," Raven grumbled as she took out a bottle of fire whiskey.

Clarke's stomach rolled. She couldn't bring herself to agree with Raven but actually didn't know the girl well enough to defend her. They sat down across from each other on the two high stools at the work station. Raven slid a tumbler of the molten red liquid across the steel top to Clarke.

"What do you mean?" Clarke asked curiously. "She was just doing her job and to be fair we deserved a worse punishment for what she thought we were doing in a public place."

"So you wouldn't care if she decided to tell your Mom what she saw?"

"Oh fuck no," Clarke replied flatly before knocking back her drink. "If she told my Mom I'm pretty sure it would be bye-bye Hogwarts, hello home-schooling."

"So why are you defending her?" Raven asked sceptically.

"I don't know, we have Divination together, she seems nice." Clarke replied feigning nonchalance.

"Well you don't know her like I do. She always sits by herself, I don't think I've ever seen her smile and yesterday we were in the Ravenclaw common room and I asked her if I could borrow a quill and she reacted as if I electrocuted her," Raven explained frantically.

"Whatever, weird or not, I trust her when she says she's not going to report us," Clarke stated, bringing the topic to a close.

Raven shrugged at Clarke's unwarranted and unwavering faith in the girl and necked her fire whiskey, there were more important matters to attend to.

"I think you know what we have to do, Clarke," she said forcefully, pulling up the sleeve of her robe. Clarke shook her head resolutely.

"Raven, we agreed on two weeks."

"That was when we thought there might be side-effects that could physically harm us!" Raven argued. "And you said yourself that you can _feel_ the spell has worked."

"It _could still_ hurt me, Raven!" Clarke exclaimed. Raven leaned across the work top urgently.

"Clarke, the only way that tattoo can hurt us now is if we can't find it. Which we can't! We have a better chance of finding them if there is more than one."

"There's also a greater chance of someone else finding them if there is more than one," Clarke rebutted.

"I think that's a risk we have to take," Raven replied, suddenly weak. "Clarke, I can feel this magic running away from us, we need to do something to take control of the situation again."

"I agree, Raven, but I don't think tattooing you is the way to do it."

Raven looked Clarke square in the eye, she knew there was only one way to convince her. "Clarke, either you tattoo me, or I tattoo myself."

She would have been surprised by the ultimatum if it wasn't a completely obvious Raven move. Always with the dramatics with this girl. Raven raised a questioning brow at Clarke.

"I guess I'm tattooing you then."

Raven giddily leapt down from the chair, gathered the necessary equipment and brought it back to Clarke.

"So, I was thinking of getting maybe a…" Raven started but Clarke held up her hand to stop talking.

"I know exactly what to give you and you're going to love it." Raven immediately shut her yap, put her hands in the air and sat back quietly.

It didn't take Clarke more than 5 minutes to complete the design. She took more time carefully manipulating it around the page, making its movements natural and fluid.

"Do you want to see it?" Clarke asked moving around to stand by Raven.

"Nah, I trust you." Clarke was warmed by Raven's faith in her and hoped that if it ever came to it that she would have the same level of absolute trust in return.

"Where do you want it?" Clarke asked.

"Does it matter?" Raven asked genuinely. "It's gonna go where it wants anyway."

"True," Clarke agreed. She thought it best to then tattoo Raven in the same place. She held the parchment next to Raven's arm and rolled the spell around in her mind, warming it up. When it felt ready she steadily chanted, "Corium pigmento-motum."

This time red and blue light pulsed from her palm as the design was transferred to Raven's skin. As it settled in its new home the lights merged to a royal purple. Clarke waited for the last flash of light before lowering her hand.

"Is it finished?" Raven asked with her eyes shut tight.

"One last thing," Clarke informed her, drawing her wand. "Impervio. Now, you can look."

Raven's eyes snapped open and flitted down to her arm. Clarke waited with baited breath, trying to assess her reaction. It only took a second before Raven beamed brilliantly at Clarke.

"I love it so much, Clarke."

"It gets better."

Raven looked back down at her arm. There sat a little rocket on the surface of the moon. Before their eyes it began to launch, flames streaming from the jet engines, the surface of the moon fading away beneath it. As it flew it left a trail of stars in its wake.

"Clarke, I'm pretty sure you've created the coolest magic ever," Raven gushed excitedly. As if the rocket could feel her excitement, it began to zoom and zigzag all over her arm producing streams of little galaxies. "So you like it?" Clarke asked as if she didn't already know the answer.

"Are you kidding, Clarke? I love it!"

She smiled proudly as Raven waved her arm around watching the rocket perform loop-de-loops.

"So what do we do now?" Raven asked without breaking eye contact with her rocket.

"I suppose we wait I guess? See if it disappears."

"Why wait? I say send this cutie on its first mission."

"Why not? At least that way we can call it a night and I can try catch up on some of my course work at last."

"Exactly and while you do that I can do some recon with this guy, try get some answers out of him and I'll keep you updated."

"Sounds like a plan," Clarke agreed. "Better send it on its way then."

Raven raised her arm and the rocket touched back down on the moon's surface.

"It's time to boldly go, buddy. Boldly go wherever it is you're able to go?" Raven looked at Clarke and laughed, not sure if the rocket would know what she meant.

"I think it got the message," Clarke said nodding at her arm.

The rocket had launched and was flying away, getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared into space with a wink of light.

Clarke picked up her bag and headed for the door. "Have fun, Raven," she called over her shoulder.

"I will," she assured her, planting herself down in a bean bag.

…

Clarke made her way down to the Great Hall to get some dinner even though it was pretty far out of her way. She thought she might faint if she missed another meal. Clarke didn't like when anything came between her and food.

The Great Hall was pretty busy but there was still plenty of space at the Gryffindor table and mountains of food as well. She had just piled a load of food onto her plate when Monty, a Hufflepuff boy approached her from his table.

"Hey Clarke," he said with a small wave. "Don't know if you heard but Octavia got out of the Hospital Wing a couple hours ago."

Clarke perked up at the news. "No, I hadn't Monty, thanks! Did you see her down here? Has she eaten?"

"Oh no, I don't know, I was passing the Hospital Wing when she was released," he explained.

"Guess I'm having dinner to go then! Thanks again, Monty."

"No problem," he replied before walking back over to his table. When Clarke turned back to her plate it had all been boxed up for her, ready to go. She made a mental note to go thank the house elves soon as she carried her food out of the Great Hall.

The Gryffindor common room was almost empty, Gryffindors were not known for missing dinner. Clarke scanned the room and there was no sight of Octavia, she had probably gone right to their dormitory, eager to put on some fresh clothes after being in the Hospital Wing. She ascended the stairs slowly, being careful not to drop their dinner. She kicked the door open with her foot and put the food down on her bed which was the first one to the right of the entrance.

"YOU HAVE SOME NERVE!"

Clarke spun around and saw Octavia leaping up from her bed across the room.

"Octavia, what's wrong?" Clarke asked worried that she might still be suffering side-effects from the venom.

"How _dare_ you!" Octavia marched up to Clarke and jabbed her in the chest.

"Ow, Octavia, what is going on?!" Clarke exclaimed, trying to retreat but with nowhere to go.

"Don't you think it's the kind of thing you ask someone first, Clarke? You know, rather than going ahead and doing it without their permission?" Octavia fumed.

"Octavia, I have no idea what you're talking about," Clarke said honestly.

"This!" Octavia yelled as she pulled back her sleeve to reveal an all too familiar rocket twirling around her forearm, leaving her skin a constellation of stars.

Clarke's eyes widened and covered her mouth in shock. She sat down on her bed, mind racing. What the hell did all this mean?

"Earth to Clarke!" Octavia shouted. "How could you tattoo me, without me even being present?"

"Octavia, I didn't tattoo you," Clarke said in a daze.

"What do you mean _you_ didn't tattoo me, this is definitely your handy work, Clarke."

"Oh, it's my art alright," Clarke agreed.

"Clarke, would you please start talking some sense?!" Octavia urged.

"I mean, I didn't tattoo _you_ , it's not _your_ tattoo," she explained as best she could. "It's Raven's. I tattooed _Raven._ "


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you mean it's Raven's tattoo?" Octavia asked, frozen in place. Clarke lay back on the bed staring, bemused, up at wooden frame of her four-poster bed. "Now is not the time for you to go all catatonic on me, Clarke!" She raged in a panic, grabbing a pillow and whacking her smartly in the face with it. Clarke tried helplessly to defend herself from the blows. "Answers, please, Clarke! Or I'll jinx this pillow to follow you around hitting you for the rest of your life."

"Alright, alright, would you just stop and let me think for a second?" Clarke begged, finally managing to grab the pillow and wrench it free from Octavia's grip. She moved to sit on her trunk at the end of the bed, refusing to relinquish the pillow. "Remember what I told you when I visited you in the Hospital Wing?"

"Which part?" Octavia replied with a huff, plonking herself down on her own trunk, across from Clarke's.

"The part where I had to strip for you because my tattoo had gone missing?" Clarke said like it should have been obvious.

"Right, yeah, sorry, kinda hard to forget." Octavia said with a roll of her eyes, pushing back her hair.

"Long story short, I thought my tattoo had gone to Raven but I was wrong so we decided to tattoo Raven to see if that would provide answers," she explained frantically, "and now Raven's tattoo is on you, which frankly just raises more questions."

Octavia shut her eyes tight trying to focus. "But why me?" She asked.

"That's first on my list of questions."

"And where's yours?"

"Also on my list of questions."

"Can they go anywhere else?" Octavia continued, coming to terms with the possible magnitude of the problem.

"Look, there's a long list of questions, most of which I don't have the answer to!" Clarke cried out desperately. "All I know is that we have to go tell Raven."

"That'll be a fine introduction, won't it?" Octavia spat sarcastically. "Finally get to meet the girl I've been crushing on and the first thing I've got to say to her is, 'Hey, you know that tattoo you? Turns out we share it!' Or, 'Hey! So my body somehow hijacked your new tattoo.' Ya know, both just stellar approaches."

"Hey, at least you have a legitimate reason to talk to her now," Clarke pointed out.

"Under the most bizarre circumstances ever, thank you very much!" Octavia retorted.

Clarke was about to fire some choice comebacks when they heard voices growing from the common room. Everyone was back from dinner.

"We can't talk about this here, we have to go find Raven."

"What? Now?" Octavia dived off her trunk and looked in the mirror, immediately starting to brush her hair. "You message Raven, I need 5 minutes."

Clarke rolled her eyes and smirked. Of course Octavia would see past the craziness of the entire situation and be worried about how she looked for Raven.

 _*Raven, RoR in 10 minutes. Urgent/Mayhem/Mayday, all the code words. There's something you need to see.*_

After receiving confirmation from Raven that she would be there, the two made their way to the 7th floor corridor. Octavia seemed incredibly composed for someone who had been downright panicking less than 10 minutes ago.

"So why doesn't it have colour?" She had been asking Clarke every question that had popped into her head, most of which she couldn't begin to answer.

"That question doesn't really factor too high on my list right now but I have been wondering about it myself because when I cast the spell there's colour like emanating from my hands and I didn't specifically imagine them in all black and greys…maybe we need to add a third part to the spell to add the colour?"

"I suppose that would make sense," Octavia agreed with a shrug as they waited for the door to materialise in the wall.

Raven was already waiting when they entered the room together. She looked up at Clarke and stood quickly from her chair when she saw they had company.

Octavia had been mentally preparing herself not to act like an idiot around Raven but found herself distracted by the stunning fit out of the room. Clarke could see Raven warily watching her.

"It's ok," Clarke assured her. "This is Octavia and she's here for a pretty good reason."

"She'd better be, we agreed not to bring anyone else here until we were officially up and running which may never happen now, especially since our tattoos keep going AWOL."

"Just chill," Clarke urged. "Octavia, Raven, Raven, Octavia."

Octavia met Raven's wary look with a coy smile. "Hey," she said with a nod.

Clarke groaned internally. Did Octavia just give Raven 'the nod'? Clarke knew Raven was about to meet the 'too cool for you' Octavia who makes appearances when she is trying not to appear nervous.

"Hi…" Raven replied uncertainly, looking the girl up and down before glancing back at Clarke. "Griffin, you kinda said this was important."

"Oh, it is," she confirmed, nudging Octavia with her elbow.

"Right," Octavia said startled, not used to being so close to the brunette. "I've got something that belongs to you." She pulled up her sleeve and revealed the rocket which was cartwheeling and zipping around the place.

Raven's jaw dropped as her eyes lifted to lock with Octavia's. "Why…y…you?" She stuttered out.

"Search me," Octavia said with a shrug.

While Clarke and Octavia were simply confused, Raven looked edgy and panicked, her eyes constantly drifting back to her tattoo on Octavia's arm.

"Clarke, could we have a word?" She asked her suddenly, before pulling her away from Octavia over to a corner.

Octavia raised her eyebrows, clearly offended but Clarke gave her a look that begged for a little understanding.

"What is it?" Clarke asked. "You're going to freak her out, she already feels like an outsider in all of this." She could see however that she hadn't even heard her. Raven's brain was clearly racing behind her dark brown eyes like she was trying to figure out a formula.

"When you left me here earlier to do my own research with my tattoo the first thing that came to my mind was to check Finn. I left almost right after you did to go find him. I needed to know if he had it." Raven ranted suddenly, staring blankly past Clarke.

"Well?" Clarke urged. "Why are you acting like this? Did he have it too?"

"No, he didn't have it," she answered robotically. Clarke's stomach plummeted. Raven was disappointed Finn didn't have it and Octavia did. She felt terrible, she had gone and gotten Octavia's hopes up for nothing. And she should have known better too, Raven and Finn had been together for a really long time from what she had gathered form Raven and she never made any inclinations that she was unhappy with him.

"It's ok Raven," Clarke cooed. "It's understandable to have thought he would have it and to be disappointed that he doesn't. It would have been a really amazing connection."

"It's an unimaginable connection to have with someone," Raven agreed, "literally ground-breaking. But I'm not disappointed."

"Wait, what?" Clarke asked confused, sure she had pieced it all together.

"I'm relieved," Raven admitted, almost in tears.

Clarke made a face of realization before frowning because no, she still did not understand. "I'm lost, you're relieved that Finn doesn't have it?"

"From the moment we made this magic you've been saying that you're certain of things because they've just felt right," Raven continued by way of explanation. "Well as soon as I sent it away I had a feeling it was with the right person. And part of me wanted it to be Finn and I had to know so I found him."

"And you're relieved?"

"Yes, because I somehow knew he was the wrong person."

"Which makes Octavia…the right person?" Clarke suggested as Raven nodded slowly. She looked at Octavia who was perusing the tattoo books on the shelves then back at Raven who was now also watching Octavia but not quite in the same way Clarke had been. "What do you mean 'the right person', Raven? How do you feel about Octavia having your tattoo?"

"I know it makes no sense, I don't know the girl at all but I'm comforted by it?" Raven hugged her chest. "I can feel that it's meant to be with her, that it's something that we share. I can feel it in my gut, I feel it in my…heart." Raven shook her head, clearly emotional. "This magic, Clarke. It's different to other spells I've created. Before this my experimental magic was strictly used on integrating magic with Muggle technology, making them compatible. But this magic is intricately linked with emotion, which makes it more volatile, have a vast amount of potential but also extremely difficult to understand. It doesn't follow a formula, it follows your heart, Clarke. We have no idea the capabilities or ultimate function of what we've created."

Clarke was worried, Raven was supposed to be able to wrap her head around the practicalities and she was obviously failing.

"I'm scared, Clarke," Raven confessed.

"Hey, there's nothing to be scared of," Clarke assured her. "Look, you're a pragmatist and this is a little too touchy-feely for you, so concentrate on the facts, tell me what you know."

"I know that I have no idea how this magic works, which is part of why I'm scared. I know that it won't hurt us because we can feel it which gives me mixed feelings but doesn't make me any less scared. And I know that from the second Octavia showed me the tattoo it's like there is a giant magnet trying to pull me towards her and I almost feel physically tired from trying to resist it which is the highest contributing factor as to why I'm scared shitless."

"Ok, I need you to try to calm down for like two minutes," Clarke begged. "Octavia sharing your tattoo with you is a good thing for practical reasons if nothing else. She's my best friend so we can trust her to keep this to herself and we have a much better chance of understanding what's going on now that we have both parties present."

"Would you two please fill me in on what's going on?" Octavia called over to them, irritated.

Raven's eyes widened in both fear and delight at Octavia's voice and the thought of re-joining her.

"Just one more minute, O, please?" Clarke asked imploringly.

"No, Clarke, now!" Octavia ordered. "I want to know what's going on."

Raven was already walking back over to Octavia before she could try and buy more time. She joined them around the table and sighed as she sat down.

"Octavia, truth is, we don't really know what's going on either," she admitted.

"Fill me in on what you do know."

Clarke looked at Raven who was sitting stiffly to her left. She appeared to be physically trying to prevent herself from speaking and had simply settled on drinking Octavia in as if that could provide her with some answers.

Clarke rolled her eyes, it seemed Raven wasn't going to be any help.

"It would appear that you and Raven now share the tattoo."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Octavia quipped sarcastically. Clarke had to bite back her response. She had to remind herself of Octavia's perspective in all of this.

"Yes, it's obvious you share the tattoo and what's more is that we think it's only shared between the two of you and well…we don't really know what that means. Why does Raven share it with you?"

Octavia shook her head trying to understand. "What makes you think only we share it?"

Clarke looked at Raven to take over.

"Well Octavia, that's what's hard to understand," Raven began carefully. "The spell Clarke made is based heavily on emotion which I now think means that we have to trust how the magic feels." Octavia looked steadily at Raven who couldn't seem to bring herself to make eye contact.

"So…what do you feel?" Octavia asked shakily.

"Well, my first instinct, which is what I was explaining to Clarke, was to check if I shared it with my boyfriend, Finn," Raven admitted, confused why she felt guilty sharing this with a girl she had just met.

Octavia stilled, her eyes snapping to Clarke accusingly. Clarke met her glare with guilty eyes and mouthed 'sorry'. She hadn't brought herself to telling Octavia about Finn. She wanted to blame how distracted she'd been but really she had been too much of a coward and just didn't want to be the bearer of bad news.

Raven had missed their silent interaction as she had been pointedly focussing her eyes on the table as she tried to share how she was feeling. "But when I found out he didn't have it I felt relieved."

Octavia was startled out of her death glare at Clarke and looked at Raven who finally brought her eyes up to meet hers.

"And I don't know what that means," Raven said glassy eyed, voice breaking. "And this is gonna sound really weird but I'm glad you have it?" She let out a deep breath and tried to shake the tears away that were biting at the back of her eyes to let them fall.

Octavia, overcome with sympathy for the girl, reached forward and placed her hand over Raven's comfortingly. "It's ok," she cooed reassuringly, "we'll figure this out. Right, Clarke?" She looked to the blonde for back up when she didn't get a reply only to find Clarke gawping down at their joined hands.

The rocket was crisscrossing over their hands, producing a myriad of fireworks, in full colour for all of them to see. All three of them stared in awe at what was happening. There was another burst of red fireworks and Octavia jolted back, relieving her hold on Raven.

The colour faded and the rocket slipped up Raven's sleeve almost sadly. Clarke pulled at the roots of her hair. "There is no limit to the amount of questions I have now."

Octavia looked at her hands in fear whereas Raven looked at O's hands like she wanted to touch them again. Clarke reached down and pulled back Raven's sleeve and gestured at Octavia to do the same.

"Do it again," Clarke ordered.

"What?!" Octavia exclaimed.

"I want to see if it will do it again."

Raven tentatively held her hand out for Octavia to take, letting her know that she was in if she was. Octavia eyed Raven's hand, clearly unsure, but when she looked into Raven's chestnut eyes she saw how lost she felt and knew that all Raven wanted from her was to help her understand. Octavia's heart lurched in her chest. She didn't know what she was getting herself into but when Raven was looking at her like that, she couldn't bring herself to care.

She bit her lip, pulled up her sleeve and placed her hand in Raven's.

Colour exploded from where their hands joined and spread up their arms. The rocket whizzed and twirled up and down their arms excitedly. Octavia wondered if Raven's heart was racing as much as hers was.

Clarke looked between the two of them in complete disbelief. "Well?" Clarke asked impatiently. "Do you feel any different?"

Octavia blushed and sent Clarke an admonishing look to which she just shrugged defensively.

"I mean my mind wants to explode right now because it absolutely cannot comprehend what is happening right now but at the same time there is just this growing sense of serenity," Raven informed them. "Do you feel it too?" She asked Octavia nervously.

Octavia's heart beat hard in her chest and a particularly bright burst of fireworks lit up their faces. She tried to ignore the fact that she was holding Raven's hand for the most insane reason and instead focus on what lay beneath her excitement.

The rocket slowed down and began to fly around in slow and lazily aimless patterns. The fireworks faded to be replaced by a dark, star filled sky that stretched from Octavia's to Raven's elbow. That's when she started to feel it. That uncanny sense of calm Raven was talking about. She couldn't explain it, it didn't seem to have a source but it was washing over her in waves and it was definitely a result of their joined hands.

Clarke pulled their hands apart and they both felt an immediate loss as the connection broke and awkwardly avoided looking at each other as they pulled their sleeves back down.

"What now?" Octavia asked.

"I'm not really sure," Raven said scratching the back of her head. "That didn't really answer any questions." She looked at Clarke who was lost in thought.

"Raven, you said your gut instinct was to go see if Finn had it. Did you do anything else? Ask it any questions?" Clarke asked pensively.

"No," Raven admitted. "I had a feeling it wasn't with him but I had to see for myself. I didn't ask it anything because I didn't want to find out it wasn't with him that way."

"Ask it who it belongs to," Clarke requested.

"I think it's fairly obvious at this stage, Clarke," Octavia scoffed.

"Just do it, ok? I need to see something."

Octavia rolled her eyes but held her arm out in front of them all the same.

"Who do you belong to?"

 _You –_ The rocket spelled out with stars.

"Happy?" Octavia asked and Clarke shook her head vigorously.

"Ask it about Raven."

"Who else do you belong to?"

 _Raven –_ It spelled with stars once more.

Clarke's mind reeled. Her tattoo hadn't spelled out the name of who she shared it with. It only showed her a raven which is naturally why she thought it was with Raven.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked her.

"Nothing…it's nothing," Clarke replied briskly, brushing away their attention.

Octavia eyed her suspiciously. Clarke never did anything without a reason and something that had happened was clearly raising more questions in her mind.

"Ok, well I want to play with our tattoo a little more!" Raven said, oblivious to Clarke's inner turmoil. "What do you say, Octavia?" She asked, holding our her hand. "Shall we have this dance?"

The room responded to Raven's idea by dimming the lighting and playing the Room of Requirement playlist she had put together. Octavia gaped at the changes in their surroundings but couldn't take her mind off Clarke.

"Wait!" Octavia ordered and the music cut off sharply, leaving Raven looking severely disappointed. "We'll have plenty of time in the future for all of that, Raven but right now I think we need to do some research into this magic."

Raven huffed childishly. "Clarke did a tonne of research and couldn't find anything helpful."

"What kind of research? What field of magic did you focus on?"

"Well, when my tattoo went missing we thought it might work like portrait magic," Clarke informed her. "But when we were crafting our spell we read up on magical etymology, which I have, kinda went over my head."

Octavia nodded in understanding. "That's essentially a branch of Ancient Runes but Raven takes that class so I guess she had you both covered."

"Not gonna lie, Ancient Runes isn't my strongest subject," Raven confessed guiltily. "But I did understand the magical etymology a bit better than Clarke. But that's never come up in Ancient Runes, has it?"

"No, it hasn't, the material we cover in Ancient Runes predates modern magical etymology," Octavia confirmed. "Not that you would have noticed, Raven. You're always asleep in that class."

"It's first thing on a Friday morning!" Raven said defensively. "Wait, you're in my Ancient Runes class?"

"I'm the only 5th year Gryffindor that takes it," Octavia said with a shrug. "At the start of semester I was in class with three 5th year Hufflepuffs but they all dropped it after Halloween so my timetable was switched and I was put into your class with the Ravenclaws and Slytherins. It's why I don't have Care of Magical Creatures with Clarke anymore."

"So…you watch me in class?" Raven asked suggestively and Octavia's cheeks tinged slightly pink.

"That…is neither here nor there… what I'm hearing from you is that you didn't think to research the contribution Ancient Runes would have in your new magic?"

"No, we didn't quite make that connection, no," Raven confirmed. "But in my defence we were making new magic. We weren't trying to recreate some long forgotten enchantment or something!"

"Raven, the first thing you learn in Ancient Runes is that all modern magic, whether consciously or unconsciously, has some connection or root in ancient witchcraft and wizardry," Octavia reminded her in exasperation.

"So what you're saying is that the spell we created could draw on some archaic magic that we overlooked?" Clarke asked still a little dazed.

"I think it's the most probable explanation for the scope of abilities this magic seems to have."

Raven huffed as her hopes of experimenting with tattoo with Octavia dwindled.

"We're back to studying again then?" She asked the pair of them.

Before they could even answer, the room had catered to their needs, conjuring the books it though they might require.

"I forgive you for being so MIA before, Clarke," Octavia said as she watched the room in action. "I would have been pretty distracted by all of this too." She looked at Clarke who was still acting strange. She looked like she could use a remembrall right about then except that she didn't look like she knew what she had forgotten. "Clarke, let's get studying, these books aren't going to read themselves." She said as she dragged Raven reluctantly over to the study corner, assuming positions in two snuggly armchairs adjacent to one another.

Clarke moved automatically, picking up a heavy volume from the mahogany coffee table and sitting down in the armchair opposite them. She flipped the book open on a random page and propped her feet up on a footstool.

A roaring fire burst into life in the hearth beside them and blankets appeared on their laps. The room clearly knew they had a long night ahead of them. Clarke stared blankly at the page in front of her, oblivious to Octavia and Raven's comfortable chit chat as they settled down to study together. She was a little jealous that they had each other in all of this now and that they had found Raven's tattoo so easily, even though they still didn't know what it meant that Octavia had it.

Her mind kept drifting back to something Raven had said. That she had felt that her tattoo was with the right person and immediately needed to know if that was Finn. Could there be a romantic element to their magic? Why wouldn't Raven want to share this connection with her boyfriend who she was supposedly in love with? She had questions she didn't want answered in front of Raven and Octavia but she couldn't wait for the privacy of her bed. She drew her wand deftly from her pocket and pulled the footstool closer with her heels so she could bring her knees higher and use the giant tome of a book to shield her from view. She tapped the tip of her wand against the skin of her forearm and the raccoon promptly appeared.

Clarke felt she had to confirm that she didn't share it with Raven even though, now that she was thinking in the same mind set as Raven, she felt that it wasn't with her.

 _What are they doing right now? –_ She scribbled slyly, angling her arm comfortably in front of her. The raccoon pretended to sleep.

 _They're sleeping?-_ She wrote.

 _Yes –_ It wrote out in paw prints.

Clarke looked over the top of her book at Raven who was definitely not asleep. She was trying her best to look like she was focussing on the book in front of her but was actually sneaking sideways looks at Octavia who was buried deep into the volume she was reading, absentmindedly twirling her hair. Clarke smirked as Raven stared fixedly at the action. She looked back down and braced herself for her next question.

She wanted to know why Octavia and Raven's tattoo had been able to spell out a name when they asked, while hers mostly used symbols.

 _Who else do you belong to? –_ She wrote and waited nervously for the raven to appear again.

Only this time it didn't. Clarke gasped and clutched her arm. Octavia and Raven immediately looked at her in concern.

"Did you find something that might help us?" Raven asked, sitting up straight.

Clarke coughed and shook her head, trying to think of a quick lie. "Just a papercut is all, no biggie." She said quickly, pretending to lick blood from her index finger.

"Ouch, those are the worst," Octavia said before settling back down in her chair.

"I know, right?" Clarke agreed, trying not to appear panicked.

She didn't know what had changed with her tattoo from one day to the next that it could give her a written response to that question but there was no mistaking what she saw when she looked back down at her arm and it definitely wasn't a raven.

There, in a bold formulation of paw prints, was one distinct word which Clarke immediately knew to be a name. A name she had only learned that same day.

 _Woods._


	6. Chapter 6

Clarke woke slowly, neck stiff from falling asleep in the armchair. She brushed her hair from her face and looked over at Raven and Octavia whose chairs were now side by side. They had been drifting closer together as the night wore on while they researched diligently for answers. She quirked a brow at seeing that their little fingers were now linked between them in their sleep. Their heads rested mere centimetres apart on the backs of their chairs and yet an entire galaxy lay between them, glittering on their joined hands.

Clarke's back gave a twinge and she shifted in the chair stiffly. The long forgotten book from the night before slid from her lap and snapped shut with a loud thud on the floor. Clarke winced at the sound and watched as Raven and Octavia were startled awake in confusion. Clarke wondered if they even knew they had been holding hands.

"What time is it?" Octavia asked groggily.

Raven pulled her old stop watch from her pocket and squinted at it wearily. "It's late," she croaked. "Good thing we have a free first thing or we would've had some explaining to do. We'll still make breakfast though, so don't worry Clarke."

Clarke could only bring herself to smile weakly in return. She busied herself tidying up the study area of blankets and books. She'd gotten little to no sleep. When she saw what was written on her arm she had thought of dozens of excuses to leave so she could think privately but she knew Raven and O would have seen through her in a heartbeat. So she had stayed and internally panicked as her eyes had glossed over the books she was supposed to be reading. Each time the panic would begin to subside her eyes would stray back to her arm, the name long since having faded but still feeling like she could see it, etched into her skin, burning her corneas, heart racing once again.

She sat through waves of panic as hours stretched by, Raven and Octavia getting quieter until succumbing to sleep, her mind ruminating over what she saw but not quite processing what it meant. Because what did it mean? That she shared this connection with a near stranger?

She wanted to be worried because worrying would have been rational and she wanted to take a leaf out of Raven's book and be rational for once.

But she couldn't bring herself to worry about her link with the wavy haired girl because she was experiencing the eerie serenity that Raven had managed to articulate to her the day before. She was panicking because she knew her heart, (her soul?), had warmly embraced the new information and had dived head first into acceptance and her mind was reluctant to join it there.

"Clarke!" Raven called, rescuing her from her errant thoughts. "You've rearranged that stack of books three times now. C'mon let's go, or we'll miss breakfast."

The fog in her mind's eye cleared and Clarke collected herself as the two girls stood ready near the exit, watching her curiously.

"Right, yeah, coming."

Clarke lagged a few steps behind as the trio made their way down to the Great Hall. Octavia had clearly gotten over her nerves and was chatting easily to Raven as they made their descent. She cast a few worried looks Clarke's way but thought better than to try talking to her before she had eaten.

When they entered the Great Hall Octavia led them over to the Gryffindor table. Clarke instinctively glanced over to the Ravenclaw table, absentmindedly scratching her arm. She didn't even look at the food in front of her until she had scanned the length of the table beneath the deep blue banners. Sighing in disappointment she poured herself a cup of coffee. She didn't even notice the tall Hufflepuff boy get up from his table and begin approaching Raven who was wrapped up in her conversation with Octavia as she poured her some pumpkin juice.

It wasn't until he was standing directly behind her that Octavia looked at him uncertainly. Raven followed O's eye line and swivelled round on the bench spilling juice across the table.

"Oh shoot!" She exclaimed, trying to pat herself dry.

"I've got it!" Octavia and the boy said in unison, drawing their wands to dry up the mess.

Raven's hand stilled, eyes widening as she recognised the voice and finally looked at who had joined them.

"Finn! Hey," she greeted shrilly before clearing her throat. He moved in to give her a hug. "Hang on!" She yelped, gesturing at the pumpkin juice staining her robes, taking a slight step back. She angled her body awkwardly to put the jug of pumpkin juice back on the table and looked at Octavia who was focussing on the juice seeping into Raven's clothes. She flitted her eyes to Finn momentarily before lifting her wand and muttering, "Tergeo," the stain disappearing rapidly. She pulled him in for a hug before he could lean down for a kiss. Her stomach rolled at the thought of him kissing her right now.

Finn hugged her back and smiled at Octavia and Clarke. "I thought we were going to have breakfast together?" He said to Raven casually.

"Shit did we make plans?" Raven asked guiltily. "It must have slipped my mind. Sorry."

"No special plans," he conceded, "but we always have breakfast together, didn't think we had to make plans for it."

"Right, of course," Raven agreed, knocking her forehead with the base of her hand. "I've been a bit scatter-brained lately, 5th year must be getting to me."

"No biggie," Finn said breezily with a lopsided smile. "Why don't you introduce us and we can have breakfast together," he suggested, gesturing at Clarke and Octavia behind her who were both staring fixedly at the couple.

Raven couldn't think of anything she would rather do less in that moment than have Finn join them for what would undoubtedly be the most awkward breakfast the Great Hall had ever seen.

"Clarke, Octavia, meet my boyfriend, Finn," she said stiffly, barely looking at them. "Haven't you eaten already, Finn?"

"Well yeah," he said with a shrug, "but I can hang and get to know Clarke and Octavia for a bit."

Raven knew he wasn't going to leave easily, damn his friendly nature. She stepped over the bench and pulled Finn a couple steps away, trying to think of what she could say that would get rid of him.

"Actually, Finn, Octavia is going through a rough time right now and we promised her we'd help make her feel better so I don't think now is the best time for intros and small talk, you know?"

"I've never heard you mention an Octavia before, is everything alright?" He asked concerned.

"I haven't known her long, she's Clarke's best friend and Clarke thought I could help cheer her up."

"I'm always amazed at how easily you seem to hit it off with everybody," he said admiringly. "Just don't forget about me, yeah? You've been a bit distant lately."

"Like I said, 5th year is getting to me is all," Raven said crossing her arms across her chest.

"It's getting to me too, babe," he said wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head. "Enjoy your breakfast."

He released her and waved goodbye to Clarke and Octavia as he stepped back before turning on his heel and heading out of the Great Hall.

"Sorry about that," Raven said as she sat back down at the table. "Didn't think it was quite the right time for introductions." She laughed nervously as she picked up her fork and poked her food around her plate.

"Agreed," Octavia said pointedly.

"So, Clarke, did you read anything interesting last night?" Raven asked, swiftly changing the subject.

"What? What do you mean?" Clarke asked edgily.

"You know, anything that might be relevant to interpreting the tattoos," Raven said obviously.

"Not a thing," Clarke said sketchily. "Not one…word."

"Alright, well Octavia and I found…"

"Actually," Clarke cut in, "I have a few things to do before we have Transfiguration, Octavia, so I think I'll just have breakfast on the go." She grabbed a pile of toast and popped a piece in her mouth before getting up from the table and marching out of the Great Hall.

"I know I don't know her as well as you do, but that's her being weird, right?" Raven asked Octavia for confirmation as they watched their friend leave in a hurry.

"Oh, for sure," Octavia agreed.

"Thought so," Raven said with a nod as they turned back to their breakfast.

Clarke charged blindly through the Entrance Hall and up the main staircase, she just needed some space to think.

Finn was at the entrance to the dungeons to the left of the staircase when he saw the blur of blonde fly up the steps in his peripheral vision. Wasn't that the girl Raven was just with? He turned and jogged back across the Entrance Hall and peeked his head around the door to the Great Hall. Raven was still there with that Octavia girl. Raven was talking animatedly and Octavia threw her head back laughing. Something didn't feel right.

Clarke made her way back to the Gryffindor dormitories on auto pilot. She finally had some time alone to think, albeit not very much. Relieved to see the dormitory empty when she arrived she curled up on the windowsill beside her bed and looked out over the grounds below.

Now that she knew that the Woods girl had her tattoo she was almost afraid to look at her arm. She had to decide how she wanted to handle the situation and fast. She had Divination with her for 3rd period and knew she wouldn't be able to keep her cool.

She had spent the night contemplating whether or not to ask it any questions. For some reason when she thought it was Raven that had it, it didn't feel strange to ask it questions to find out what it could do. Raven was fast becoming one of her best friends and didn't think it could share anything about her that she didn't already know…or had at least heard rumours about. But now it seemed invasive and creepy to have access to the girl's information when she had no idea what was happening.

That was another thought Clarke had been mulling over. Had Woods seen it? Probably. Did she know what it was? Probably not. Sid she know she could use it to magically communicate with Clarke? She hoped she absolutely freaking did not.

Transfiguration was fast approaching and Clarke's mind was no clearer. She felt like her mind was an engine that kept stalling. Every time she thought she had decided what path to take she reconsidered. It was incredibly frustrating.

She sighed and drew back her sleeve, ready to ask it one questions and one question only. Any more than that she considered to be a complete invasion of privacy. The raccoon looked up at her patiently.

"Has she seen you?" Clarke asked nervously.

The raccoon nodded gravely, seeming to wonder if Clarke was mad at it.

She released a shaky breath and pet the raccoon gently for a moment before pulling her sleeve back down. It was the answer she had been expecting but knowing for certain made her feel uneasy. If Woods had seen it there was only a matter of time before she spoke to it, if she hadn't already.

She glanced at the clock on her bedside table and hastily gathered her things. It looked like she was going to have to hold out for a miracle of a plan to come to her because there was no time to plan one now.

She sat down next to Octavia when she entered the Transfiguration classroom.

"Everything ok, Clarke?" Octavia asked, eyeing her as she took out her Transfiguration book.

"Everything's fine, just have a lot on my mind," she replied.

"Tell me about it," Octavia said with a roll of her eyes. "This is all so much to take in. Raven and I can't stop talking about it. It's like we just want to spend every spare moment experimenting with each other!" She gushed excitedly making Clarke scoff with a smirk. "Not like that!" Octavia said giving her arm a thump, eyes lighting up. "But there was this moment during breakfast, after you left where I got the feeling that Raven really wanted to hold my hand. She started to say something, then cut herself off and got all flustered but I saw her just staring at my hand."

"Like you said, you both want to experiment with the tattoos more but you have got to promise you won't do it in public," Clarke warned. "She was probably just thinking of what would happen if people saw."

Octavia looked crestfallen. "You think that's all it was? That it's just about the tattoos? Because I just…I felt like there was more to it that that."

"I'm sorry, Octavia, your guess is as good as mine," Clarke reassured her. "That's the whole point though, we don't know what's going on but at least you get to spend time with her figuring it out together and if that leads to something more then that's great." Clarke took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Now let's just get through this class because we have some creatures that need returning next period."

Octavia furrowed her brow in confusion momentarily before her eyes widened with recollection.

"Merlin's beard! The Mandrakes!"

Clarke and Octavia left Greenhouse 3 and started their ascent back up to the castle. Clarke's palms were sweating profusely and she couldn't stop wringing her hands.

"What on earth is wrong with you?" Octavia ordered. "We put the Mandrakes back safe and sound, no one saw and I didn't get bitten by a deadly, venomous plant. That's a win in my book."

"Yeah it's not that, I'm just really behind in my Divination coursework," she lied in what she hoped was a convincing manner.

"Ah come on, you can bluff your way through that! You know Professor Titus is all doom and gloom, just say some crap about having a vision about a wizarding apocalypse and he'll go off on a rant for the entire lesson."

"Thanks for the tip."

"You're welcome, now if you'll excuse me, I have a free period and I'm going to spend it researching whatever the hell kind of magic it is you cast on all of us!" Octavia trotted ahead of her and took off towards the library.

Clarke cursed the long journey up to the Divination Tower. Coming from the greenhouses ensured that she was always last to class and today of all days that was not what she wanted. She staggered up the last flight of stairs to the Divination classroom. Hands on hips she took a second to catch her breath before clambering up the ladder.

She lifted the trapdoor just a crack and peeked inside. She was immediately assailed by the aroma of sandalwood incense. She didn't really know what she was looking for, it's not like she could see who was in the classroom from her position. The trapdoor opened in the narrow corridor leading into the room. All she could see was the beaded curtain jangling at her tauntingly. They had already been released from their peg on the wall so there was no way for her to even make a silent entry.

She bit the bullet and climbed the rest of the way into the corridor, no point in putting it off any longer. Maybe if she were any good at this class she could predict what would happen when she went inside. She took one more shaky breath as she raised her hand to open the curtain.

"Ms. Griffin, would you please stop dawdling out there and come in and take a seat!" Titus ordered from within.

She cringed in surprise and hastily swept the beads aside, making a god-awful racket. So much for her stealthy entrance. She stepped inside and tried to silence the beads by stopping their tendrils from swaying.

Titus cleared his throat irritably and Clarke dropped her hands to her sides as she meekly stepped into the room. Clarke made a point of looking at the opposite side of the room to where she knew Woods would be sitting. She could see in her peripheral vision that the armchair she had occupied earlier in the week sat vacant. Instead, she honed in on a small, circular table occupied by two Hufflepuffs that definitely looked like they could use some company. Clarke clumsily squeezed and wedged her way between the tightly packed tables and plonked herself down on a pouffe that was too low for the table and made Clarke look like a small child. The Hufflepuffs looked slightly taken aback by her arrival but didn't verbally question it, they simply shuffled closer together with raised eyebrows to make some more room.

Titus regained the students' attention and recommenced his lecture on the appropriate academic language to use in a formal prophecy.

From her low vantage point at the table, Clarke could happily slip below the radar for the entire lesson. She rested her chin on the lace-covered table and sighed with relief. It didn't take long for Titus to nearly have her bored to tears and her attention started to drift. As the rest of the class continued to diligently take notes, Clarke tried to angle herself in such a way that she could see through the clustered classroom to the table by the window. Clarke edged her seat further and further round the table until she had a narrow but direct line of vision to the far side of the dimly lit room.

The Ravenclaw prefect was tucked deeply into her armchair, body angled toward the window. Clarke couldn't even see her face but knew it was her from her lustrous brown curls. She thought she'd be relieved that she was too wrapped up in the class to even notice her and her ridiculous entrance, and most of her was. Although, she couldn't bring herself to ignore that niggling part of her mind that wanted Woods to notice her, look at her, be closer to her.

She discreetly checked her arm under the table. The raccoon was licking its little paws and cleaning its fur. She tapped gently on her arm to get its attention before gesturing for it to leave. As it exited stage arm she looked across the room again. Woods suddenly went rigid. She hadn't exactly been oozing relaxation before but Clarke was sure that she had noticed the almost imperceptible tightening of shoulders. They could have been in the eye of a storm and not a hair on Woods' head would have moved out of place in that moment.

Clarke knew that Woods had seen the tattoo before but based on the speed at which she had noticed it Clarke knew that she had been waiting for it. She watched as Woods furtively glanced around the room to make sure no one could see what she was looking at. Clarke was hit by a wave of despair at the worried look on her face as she turned back to look at her arm. She must have felt so alone. She was experiencing something that she probably couldn't share with anyone. Guilt clutched at Clarke's heart and wouldn't let go. She didn't know what to do. She had unwittingly tangled the poor girl up in her problems. She contemplated further for a few moments until the guilt became too much. She threw caution to the wind, consequences for what she was about to do be damned.

Unbeknownst to the Hufflepuffs at her table, she drew her wand and blindly wrote a message on her arm.

 _Make her smile._

Clarke watched with bated breath as the girl continued to look at her arm. Woods suddenly looked away from her skin and bit her lip, a smile threatening to break her stoic façade. She brought her right hand up to cover her mouth and cautious eyes glanced towards Titus. But Clarke could see it, the wide grin poking out from the side of her hand and the mirth in her eyes despite her constant vigilance that someone might see. It was a brief moment of reprieve for Woods but Clarke felt like it stretched on for hours as she took in every minute detail. How could a room full of people not notice her smile? To Clarke it seemed so criminal it deserved a sentence in Azkaban.

Woods turned back towards the window, visibly lighter. She sat upright in her armchair, hair falling back from her face, the low winter sun filtering through the clouds, warming her complexion.

Proud of her work, Clarke looked down at her arm. The raccoon was looking up at her eagerly wondering how it had done. Clarke tapped her finger against its paw as a high five of acknowledgement.

Happy that Woods was no longer suffering in silence through extreme emotional turmoil, Clarke was content to daydream through the rest of the class, watching Woods fondly when her view wasn't disrupted by students leaning forward or shuffling in their seats.

She was surprised when, what only felt like a short time later, students were packing their things and beginning to exit the classroom. Clarke grabbed her things and made a point of stalling her exit. She didn't want to bump into Woods. She waited until everyone had left and gone through the trap door before leaving the table. Titus watched her curiously before withdrawing into his study at the back of the classroom.

Clarke was pleased that she had avoided any awkward interaction with Woods while simultaneously being the cause of the girl's momentary glee. She slid down the ladder smoothly and twirled around to be on her way. What she wasn't expecting was for Woods to be standing, seemingly waiting for her.

She tried to smile casually at the girl before making an attempt to bypass her to get to the staircase. Woods mirrored her movement bringing her to a complete stop.

"Clarke, I was wondering if I could speak to you for a moment?"

It didn't sound like a request, more like a command but when she lifted her gaze to actually look at the brunette she was met with uncertain green eyes and just couldn't bring herself to try and avoid her anymore.

"Sure Woods, what's up?" She replied calmly, fidgeting with the strap of her backpack. She tried not to think about how much it actually irked her now not to know the girl's name, it physically made her brain feel itchy but that was not her main concern so she shook the thought from her mind.

"Let's walk," she said gesturing for Clarke to follow her down the stairs. They began walking side by side down the stairs in silence. Clarke expected Woods to start speaking but she remained tight-lipped as they finished descending their second flight of stairs. Clarke didn't know for certain that she could handle another four flights of narrow, circular stairs in Woods' silent company.

It turned out she wouldn't have to. Woods led them onto the 4th floor corridor which Clarke immediately recognised as heading towards the Hospital Wing. It occurred to her that maybe Woods didn't want to talk to her about the tattoo at all and that she might have reconsidered informing her mother about her and Raven's peculiar behaviour in the bathroom.

"Woods, please, I thought we were cool about the bathroom thing!" Clarke begged in a panic.

Woods looked at her startled and confused before seeing how Clarke was eyeing up their apparent destination. She blushed lightly at the reminder of what she had walked in on.

"No, Clarke, this isn't about that, I promise you."

Without any further explanation Woods continued on and swung left around the corner and Clarke was left with the choice of whether or not to follow. She sighed resolutely and took off after the taller girl, avoiding looking at the entrance of the Hospital Wing, afraid if she looked at it too long her other might sense her presence.

Woods was standing waiting in the Clock Tower, gazing down at the courtyard through the clock's transparent dial. Clarke approached her slowly, choosing to remain a couple steps back from the clock face.

"Woods, whatever this is about, can it wait? I'm going to be late for Astronomy." Clarke informed her, arms crossed.

"I have to ask that you skip Astronomy today, Clarke." Woods replied without turning to look at her. "I know we don't know each other well and you don't owe me anything but I'm not the kind of person to ask for a favour unless it's urgent."

Clarke could tell from Woods' sombre tone that it was extremely difficult for her to ask anything of anyone.

"My entire academic career has pretty much gone up in smoke the last couple of months," Clarke admitted. Woods froze, waiting for a swift rejection. "So I guess missing one more class can't do much more damage."

Woods turned and looked at her in relief. "Thank you, Clarke."

Clarke joined her at the clock face and looked at her in concern. "What's going on?" She asked like she didn't already know.

"Something's happening to me," she said fearfully. "And you're the only one that can help."

This wasn't the reaction Clarke had been expecting. She thought Woods would be angry, enraged even, that Clarke had involved her with experimental magic.

"What's happening?" Clarke asked with a gulp.

"This appeared on my arm a few days ago," Woods said quickly as she lifted her sleeve and Clarke saw her all too familiar furry friend. She couldn't stop staring at it and had to force down the urge to reach out and touch her lightly tanned skin. She yearned to trace her fingers along the design she had created that they now shared.

"Clarke?" Woods more or less had to yell to get her attention.

Her eyes widened as she raced to act oblivious.

"Woods…what…what the hell is that?" Clarke asked in mock surprise, wincing at her poor acting abilities.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Woods told her.

Now Clarke didn't have to fake being surprised. Why was she talking to her so calmly? Why wasn't she fuming by this stage? Clarke could tell the girl could have a temper given the right circumstances and these felt like the right circumstances.

"What do you mean?"

"You predicted this," Woods said as if to remind her. "You read my tea leaves. This is the prophecy you made come true."

"Whaaaaaaat? Nooooo." Clarke said dismissively, backing away from her.

Woods followed instinctively. "Clarke, this thing can move. It's conscious. It _spoke_ to me."

Clarke stopped in her tracks as a wave of fear washed over her. "What do you mean it spoke to you? What did it tell you?" Clarke felt so stupid, she should have known that if she could glean information about Woods from the tattoo then surely it worked the other way around.

"I asked it where it came from and it said your name, well it didn't quite say it, it wrote it, on my arm, that's how it communicates." Woods was clearly immensely relieved to be sharing her experience with someone.

Woods' interpretation of what was going on was slowly dawning on Clarke. This girl doesn't know her like Octavia does, she didn't recognise her art, hell she probably doesn't even know she likes to draw. She wouldn't have made the leap that Clarke was using her free time to invent new magic. But she could learn a lot, if she asked it the right questions. She felt relieved, she could work with this. She could handle this situation until she had some kind of reversal spell figured out.

"You're a very talented seer, Clarke," Woods continued when she saw she was having a hard time responding. "When you reacted the way you did in class, dropping the tea cup and everything, I honestly just thought you were screwing with me. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"That's…that's flattering and all," Clarke started, "but reading someone's leaves and making a prophecy aren't quite the same thing."

"That's why I need your help," Woods urged her to understand.

"I'm sorry?" Clarke replied baffled.

"I need you to try and interpret the leaves, make a prophecy, maybe discover what it means, what it is, why it's here." Woods looked at her pleadingly.

"I can try," Clarke said with a nod.

Woods sighed with relief and stood up straight. "That's such a load off my mind, Clarke. Genuinely, thank you." She put her hands on Clarke's shoulders and squeezed them gently in gratitude.

"Is it alright if I go to Astronomy now or are you going to tie me to a chair until I have a vision or something because I wasn't kidding when I said my academic career has gone up in smoke," Clarke joked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, of course," Woods said, retracting her hands, shocked at how forward she had been.

Clarke smiled at her and took a few steps away before pausing and turning back.

"I do feel like I've earned your name at this point," Clarke teased.

Woods smiled wryly and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Get me some answers and we'll talk," she replied smugly before turning and walking back to the clock face.

"You've got it," Clarke agreed, definitely not looking back at the girl more than once as she departed.


End file.
